Shannon Sharpe, a former National Football League (NFL) star and popular US podcaster, has been dropped by sport network ESPN after settling a legal case which accused him of rape.
The case, brought by a woman who alleges that Mr Sharpe assaulted her during a nearly two-year relationship, asked for more than $50m (£38m) in damages.
Sharpe, 57, denied the claims. Earlier this month, a settlement was reached, and the case was dismissed.
After reports of his break with the TV network came out in US media, Sharpe said on one of his podcasts on Thursday: “I’m sure everybody’s heard the news by now that I will not be returning to ESPN.”
It appears that Sharpe was dropped rather than voluntarily left the network. “I found out this information a little earlier in the week,” he said.
The BBC contacted ESPN for comment.
The former NFL star had not appeared on the network since the lawsuit was filed in the state of Nevada in April. The anonymous woman said Sharpe subjected her to “pain and suffering, psychological and emotional distress, mental anguish, embarrassment and humiliation”.
The accuser was 19 at the time she met Mr Sharpe in 2023. She said in a legal filing that she met Sharpe in a Los Angeles gym, they had a “rocky consensual relationship”, that he was “aggressive” and that he raped her as recently as January.
Sharpe denied the allegations and said at the time he was the target of a “shakedown” and that the allegations were “false and disruptive”.
On 18 July, the woman’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee – who has also represented people suing Sean “Diddy” Combs and other public figures – said the case had been settled and wrote in an online post: “Both sides acknowledge a long-term consensual and tumultuous relationship.
“All matters have now been addressed satisfactorily, and the matter is closed.”
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Sharpe has millions of subscribers to his podcasts Nightcap and Club Shay Shay.
He played in the NFL for 14 years with the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens, racking up 62 receiving touchdowns and playing on three Super Bowl championship teams. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
On an episode of Nightcap released on Thursday, he did not directly address the allegations, but apologised to his older brother Sterling Sharpe, who is also a former NFL standout and will himself be inducted into the hall of fame at the weekend.
“I really want it to be about him and I want it to be about my family… This coming out will overshadow everything he’s worked his entire life for,” Shannon Sharpe said on the podcast. “I just wish this thing could have waited until Monday.”
By BBC News
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