Lawyers for both Shannon Sharpe and Gabriella Zuniga have been releasing text messages that were exchanged between the two over the past several months, and Zuniga’s attorneys have argued that some of them are proof that the Hall of Fame tight end crossed the line.
Zuniga filed a lawsuit in Nevada on Sunday in which she accuses Sharpe of assaulting her on multiple different occasions at the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025. The plaintiff says she was in an abusive relationship with Sharpe that began after the two met at a Los Angeles gym in 2023. The woman is seeking more than $50 million in damages.
In response to the lawsuit, Sharpe’s attorneys have accused Zuniga of trying to shake down and blackmail the 56-year-old. The legal team released dozens of text messages to Larry Brown Sports and other outlets that show what they describe as “graphic requests” from Zuniga to Sharpe. Sharpe’s lawyers say the texts are proof that the relationship was consensual.
On Tuesday, Zuniga’s attorney Tony Buzbee shared new text messages that were sent between Zuniga and Sharpe on the evening of Jan. 2, 2025, which is one of the days that Zuniga claims Sharpe assaulted her. Screenshots of the text messages that were shared by TMZ show Zuniga telling Sharpe, “I cried when u left because I begged you to put a condom on and not put it in my a– and u didn’t listen” (edited by LBS for profanity). Zuniga then wrote, “I don’t care what our history is, no means no shannon.”
Other text messages show Zuniga telling Sharpe she wants to be “abused” and for Sharpe to “put a dog collar around my neck and choke me with it.” Sharpe’s attorney Lanny J. Davis told TMZ that he believes Zuniga shifted her demeanor toward Sharpe when Sharpe indicated he did not want to have a child with Zuniga. Sharpe’s lawyers believe that is when Zuniga decided she was going to attempt to blackmail Sharpe.
Zuniga is listed in the lawsuit as Jane Doe, but Sharpe’s attorneys identified her as an adult-content creator, which led to her Instagram and OnlyFans pages being discovered. Buzbee claims Sharpe signed a confidentiality agreement when the ESPN analyst and Zuniga entered mediation and that Sharpe’s legal team has made a “grievous error” by breaching that agreement.
