Pretty sure you were supposed to copy and paste that.
Shannon Sharpe announced today that he was stepping away from ESPN, days after the three time Super Bowl winning tight end was hit with a lawsuit from a former girlfriend accusing him of rape and threatening to kill her.
The plaintiff, who is identified only as “Jane Doe” in the lawsuit, claims that Sharpe sexually assaulted her while they were in a relationship together, and is seeking $50 million in damages.
In the lawsuit, the woman alleges that Sharpe gradually became more aggressive during their time together:
“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.”
She also claimed that Sharpe not only raped her, but had also threatened to kill her.
After the lawsuit was filed, Sharpe released a statement identifying “Jane Doe” as Gabriella Zuniga, and combated the claims of sexual assault with text messages that were allegedly sent from Zuniga, calling the allegations a “shakedown” and challenging the woman and her attorneys to release all of the evidence, not just pieces to make him look bad.
While Sharpe has remained defiant and fiercely denied the allegations, he announced today that he would be stepping away from ESPN for the next few months:
“My statement is found here and this is the truth. The relationship in question was 100% consensual. At this juncture I am electing to step aside temporarily from my ESPN duties. I will be devoting this time to my family, and responding and dealing with these false and disruptive allegations set against me. I plan to return to ESPN at the start of the NFL preseason.
I sincerely appreciate the overwhelming and ongoing support I have received from my family, fans, friends, and colleagues.”
And while the statement itself was fine, it was how he shared it that really got people’s attention: It was a screenshot of a text message that he had received.
Now, it clearly appears that the statement was drafted by his PR team or his lawyers, and they sent it to him to post on social media. But I feel like they probably meant for him to, you know, copy and paste it into a post and not just screenshot their text message to him.
And folks on social media quickly began roasting Unc for the low-effort statement:
Shannon when your lawyer texted you that he probably didn’t mean post a screenshot. I’m guessing he wanted you to copy and paste it
— greg (@greg16676935420) April 24, 2025
Shannon: “Attorney, what should I put out as a statement?”
Attorney: “I’ll text it to you.”
Shannon: “Got it. I posted it.”
Attorney: “You didn’t just screenshot the text, did you?”
Shannon: “screenshot, teen thot, fear not… Lakers in 5”
— Travis J Davidson (@TravisSkol) April 24, 2025
Your lawyer sent you this text, told you to screenshot it and post it 😂😂
— Dusty Capone (@DustyCapone) April 24, 2025
Unc you were supposed to copy and paste this not post a screenshot LOL
— Big Steppa (@BigSteppaNews) April 24, 2025
I have a lot of friends in PR, so I know how they must be feeling seeing this…
