Shannon Sharpe, the former NFL star and current media personality, is currently facing a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault, battery, and engaging in intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Sharpe, who hosts the Club Shay Shay podcast and also fulfills drop-in appearances on ESPN’s First Take, was sued on Sunday, Apr. 20, in a lawsuit filed by “Jane Doe” in Nevada. The accuser claims that Sharpe sexually assaulted her and is seeking $50 million in damages. These accusations come at an interesting time, given that it’s rumored a $100 million contract is on its way to Sharp.
The lawsuit suggested, among other things, that Shannon Sharpe got more and more aggressive as the two-year relationship went on:
“Sharpe flew into fits of anger when Plaintiff noted his infidelity to their relationship, or called him out about his extraneous activities. What had once been manipulation, control and intimidation now became something far more dangerous and sinister. Sharpe even figured out how to get into Doe’s apartment complex without her permission.”
Given the severity of the accusations, which also included accusations that Sharpe threatened to kill the plaintiff, it did not take Sharpe to respond, who also named “Jane Doe” as Gabriella Zuniga. Sharpe put out a statement not only saying that these claims are false but also saying that Zuniga requested graphic sexual deeds in vivid text messages.
“The lawsuit, filed by Gabriella Zuniga and orchestrated by her attorney Tony Buzbee, is a blatant and cynical attempt to shake down Mr. Sharpe for millions of dollars. It is filled with lies, distortions, and misrepresentations, and it will not succeed.
In her effort to extract a large financial settlement, Ms. Zuniga presented Mr. Sharpe with a secretly recorded video of a consensual sexual encounter. We believe the video has been heavily edited and taken entirely out of context, crafted to falsely portray a consensual act as non-consensual…
To set the record straight, we are releasing several of Ms. Zuniga’s own 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.”
He then shared some of the messages that Zuniga allegedly sent him during their relationship, which are quite graphic. You can read some of them HERE.
Apparently, much of this case unfolded via text as TMZ reported that Zuniga confronted Sharpe about the sexual assault via text. The newly released text messages show a conversation that took place the evening of Jan. 2, 2025.
“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. I don’t care what our history is. No means no, Shannon.”
The accuser later added in the conversation:
“Idk how to process this.”
Sharpe responded to these messages, asking Zuniga if they could speak on the phone about her accusations, but it is unclear if that phone call ever took place.
Given there were many other text messages shared from their relationship that appear to show a consensual relationship with Zuniga making requests of what she wants in the bedroom, Sharpe’s lawyer, Lanny J. Davis, shared his opinion that these other messages “show that she likes and asks for fantasy role playing and other forms of unusual sexual behavior.”
His lawyer also believes that this change in behavior between text messages came after Sharpe refused to have a child with her.
Recently, Zungia also responded to Sharpe’s public statement by releasing a segment of a phone call that took place during some point in their relationship. The words said during this call do not look great for Sharpe, I admit.
It sounds as though Sharpe was not aware that he was being recorded, and it’s possible that Zuniga was attempting to provoke some harsh words from the media personality. If that is what was happening, it worked. The woman accusing Sharpe kept using the word “manipulate,” which clearly got under his skin. He responded with a threat in a clip that TMZ obtained:
“Oh Lord have mercy. If you say that word one more time, I will f**king choke the sh*t out of you when I see you.”
Sharpe quickly responded to that with a recorded video of his own. He addressed those with whom he’s closest and attempted to get out in front of a sex tape that he and his team believe will be released sooner rather than later. He also announced that he plans on countersuing for defamation:
“To my family, friends, supporters and colleagues, I want to speak to you directly and from the heart. This is a shakedown. I’m gonna be open, transparent, and defend myself because this isn’t right. This is all being orchestrated by Tony Buzbee. Tony Buzbee targets black men, and I believe he’s going to release a 30-second clip of a sex tape that tries to make me look guilty and play into every stereotype you could possibly imagine.
That video should be 10 minutes or so. Hey Tony, instead of releasing your edit, put the whole video out. I don’t have it or I would myself. You know what happened and you’re trying to manipulate the media. That encounter in question took place during the day at her invitation, and now that appears to be a setup.”
It’s never good when a case like this starts to go back and forth in the media’s eyes. Hopefully, this case will be settled in court soon, where all these facts can be presented to a jury, rather than being discussed back and forth as it is now.
At this current point, it does not look good for Sharpe, but the court will decide who is innocent in this lawsuit.
