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Following a lawsuit alleging s*xual assault and battery, Club Shay Shay podcaster Shannon Sharpe decided to step away from his duties at ESPN. Sharpe, who worked as an analyst at ESPN's First Take, took to X on April 24, 2025, to announce his temporary sabbatical from the American sports television network.
On the same day, a snippet from DJ Akademiks' live stream, wherein he is reading Sharpe's tweet announcing his temporary exit from ESPN, was posted on the Instagram account @djakademikstv. After reading through the tweet, Akademiks said:
"Shannon, as I said, I've been there. Days like today, days like 2 days ago or whenever the allegation hit, I know that all too well."
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Akademiks went on to say that he doesn't believe the accusations against the former NFL player, putting forth his perspective on how Jane Doe must've framed Sharpe. He said that the plaintiff took advantage of the fact that Sharpe had become comfortable using a certain type of jargon with her.
Akademiks alleged that she clipped the parts that came across as abusive, referring to the audio clip released by Jane Doe's attorney, wherein Sharpe threatens to choke the woman publicly.
Additionally, DJ Akademiks addressed the Club Shay Shay podcaster, telling him that his colleagues at ESPN plotted his exit behind his back. Akademiks also claimed that Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith were a part of kicking Sharpe off the sports television network, adding that there were no friends in the industry.
Shannon Sharpe steps back from ESPN amid allegations of s*xual assault
Following Jane Doe's lawsuit accusing Shannon Sharpe of s*xual assault and battery, the former NFL player took to X on April 25, 2025, to announce that he will be stepping down from his duties at ESPN temporarily.
In his statement, the podcaster wrote:
“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."
The NFL exhibition game is scheduled for July 31, 2025, and the regular season of the game might start on September 4, 2025, which is the timeline that Sharpe hopes to return to ESPN.
Additionally, Sharpe started his statement by walking back on one of the claims mentioned by Jane Doe in her lawsuit. The anonymous woman mentioned that she and Shannon Sharpe were in a "rocky consensual relationship" spanning two years after they first met in 2023 when she was 19. In his statement, the former NFL player mentioned that his relationship with Jane Doe "was 100% consensual."
Jane Doe has sought more than $50 million in punitive and compensatory damages via the lawsuit, claiming that Shannon Sharpe r*ped her and spent months manipulating and controlling her. She has also alleged that the former NFL player recorded their physical encounters without her knowledge and shared them with others as well.
Confirming Sharpe's temporary sabbatical from the network, an ESPN representative confirmed that the situation concerning the podcaster was serious. Additionally, the network backed Sharpe's decision to step down from his duties for the time being.
So far, Shannon Sharpe has denied Jane Doe's allegations and claimed that it is a ploy at the accuser's attorney Tony Buzbee's end.
