Shannon Sharpe has been accused of sexual assault by a woman who recently filed a lawsuit against him, and the Hall of Fame tight end has now issued a response through his legal team.
A woman filed a lawsuit in Nevada on Sunday alleging that Sharpe raped her on multiple occasions. The plaintiff says she entered into an abusive relationship with Sharpe that began after the two met in 2023. The woman is seeking more than $50 million in damages.
According to the lawsuit, the accuser met Sharpe at a gym in the Los Angeles area when she was 20. She says she then entered into a consensual relationship with the former Denver Broncos star, but that he “demanded complete control over her time and body.”
The woman says Sharpe sexually assaulted her in October 2024 “while she was crying and sobbing.” She claims he sexually assaulted her again in January 2025.
Not long after news of the lawsuit surfaced, Sharpe’s attorney Lanny J. Davis issued a statement to Larry Brown Sports responding to the allegations. Davis called the lawsuit “a blatant and cynical attempt to shake down Mr. Sharpe for millions of dollars.”
Davis said the woman, whom he identified as Gabriella Zuniga, included a “secretly recorded video of a consensual sexual encounter” as part of her lawsuit. Sharpe’s legal team believes the video was highly edited and said Zuniga refused to provide the full footage.
As a response, Sharpe’s lawyers have released “explicit text messages to Mr. Sharpe that clearly indicate the nature of their relationship was consensual and sexual in nature — and, in many cases, initiated by her with specific and graphic requests.”
In one of the alleged graphic text messages, Zuniga appears to ask Sharpe for money in the form of “25k for each cheek.” Other text messages allegedly show Zuniga telling Sharpe she wants him to impregnate her. In one text, Zuniga allegedly told Sharpe she wants the 56-year-old to “put a dog collar around my neck and choke me with it while you’re f–ing me” (edited by LBS for profanity).
“The edited tape that Ms. Zuniga secretly taped and showed to Mr. Sharpe during her blackmail attempt tries to falsely portray, as a result of this editing and out of context from prior text messages, that the sexual activity was not consensual,” Davis wrote. “But Mr. Sharpe now believes her secret taping was all part of her planned set-up as part of her blackmail scheme, as distorted by her edited tape, a copy of which she refused to make available to Mr. Sharpe or his counsel.”
The lawsuit against Sharpe was filed in the wake of a report that he is on the verge of signing a media deal worth more than $100 million.
Sharpe’s former co-host, Skip Bayless, was also part of a lawsuit earlier this year that includes allegations of sexual misconduct. There was some speculation that Sharpe may have had a hand in that suit.
Sharpe is currently an analyst with ESPN and appears on “First Take.” He also hosts his popular “Club Shay Shay” podcast.
