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On April 20, 2025, former NFL star Shannon Sharpe was accused of r*pe and s*xual assault. Political commentator Candace Owens took to her podcast, Candace, to react to the allegations against Sharpe.
On April 22, 2025, Candace Owens uploaded an episode of her podcast where she claimed that Shannon Sharpe tried to label her as "anti-black." She stated that Sharpe did not seem to agree with her political views and appeared to rejoice at her being fired from the media company The Daily Wire.
Owens remarked that Sharpe spoke ill of her on his Club Shay Shay podcast, stating,
"Shannon Sharpe was one of these people who basically came out on his podcast right away and just said, 'The black community should not welcome her back.' Like, tried to paint me as this anti-black person because I'm conservative and I, ironically, don't support movements like the MeToo movement. I don't know, because I'm not a feminist, whatever."
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More about the allegations against Shannon Sharpe
According to People, on April 20, 2025, a woman in Nevada filed a lawsuit against Shannon Sharpe, accusing him of r*pe and s*xual assault. The plaintiff, who identified herself as Jane Doe, alleged that Sharpe attacked her multiple times during what she described as a "rocky consensual relationship."
Sharpe has denied the charges and described them as a "shakedown," vowing to contest them in court.
The suit, which was filed in a district court in Las Vegas, accuses Shannon Sharpe, 56, of s*xually and physically assaulting and recording their s*xual encounters without consent. The plaintiff alleged that the incidents happened between 2023 and 2025 when she was 22.
According to the complaint, Sharpe allegedly forced her to engage in non-consensual s*xual acts, secretly recorded their encounters, and shared the videos with others.
The lawsuit also referenced a September 2024 incident where Sharpe live-streamed himself having s*x with a woman during an Instagram Live. The plaintiff argued this wasn't her but that the incident humiliated her and led her to distance herself from Sharpe.
The plaintiff alleged that in October 2024, Sharpe forced her into a car and took her to her apartment, where he coerced her into performing oral s*x before an*lly r*ping her.
The lawsuit claimed,
"Sharpe grabbed her head, forcing her to look at him as she sobbed. He said at that point: 'Look at this. Look at my arm. I've got chills. That's how good this is.'"
The plaintiff seeks $50 million in damages. Her attorney is Tony Buzbee, a Houston-based high-profile lawyer who has also represented clients who accused Sean "Diddy" Combs and Jay-Z.
Shannon Sharpe's response to the allegations
On April 22, 2025, Shannon Sharpe uploaded a video on X, denying all the allegations against him. Sharpe called the lawsuit a "targeted attack" and claimed the plaintiff's lawyer, Tony Buzbee, was "going after Black men."
Sharpe contrived that Buzbee could release a "30-second clip of a s*x tape" to influence public opinion. He claimed this clip would be an edited version of "the whole video." He also challenged Buzbee to release the unedited version of the video, claiming he would have done so if he possessed the video.
Sharpe stated,
"You know what happened, and you're trying to manipulate media."
Shannon also alleged that this was a "shakedown" orchestrated by the plaintiff. According to the Times of India, Sharpe's lawyer, Lanny Davis, claimed that Sharpe had offered the plaintiff $10 million to settle the case - an offer that was ultimately rejected.
Davis claimed that her rejection further proved Sharpe's claims of this being a "shakedown." He stated,
"Her knowledge that Mr. Sharpe's about to receive a very lucrative contract... She knew that, took advantage of it... This is a classic definition of blackmail."
Shannon Sharpe also stated that he intended to sue the plaintiff and attorney, Tony Buzbee, for defamation.
