Ex-ESPNers claim hypocrisy over network’s handling of Shannon Sharpe

Former ESPN personalities had strong reactions to the bombshell $50 million lawsuit filed Sunday against Shannon Sharpe, who has been accused of rape by a “Jane Doe.”

Sage Steele, a former “SportsCenter” anchor who left the network two years ago after a legal battle over the company’s COVID-19 vaccine policy, said Tuesday there’s “a long list of examples where ESPN and Disney considered conservative viewpoints more offensive than questionable character.”

Steele’s message came in response to a post from an X user that read: “ESPN did not re-up contracts to women with conservative views or silenced them while Shannon has had multiple questionable actions involving women. Just putting that out there.”

Ashley Brewer-Kaminsky, who was laid off from her job as a “SportsCenter” anchor in June 2023, also chimed in.

“Never forget when I got chewed out by my boss for posting a pic of a republican congressman & UFC fighter on my instagram story at the McGregor fight. LOL,” she responded to Steele’s X post.

The former colleagues went on to share more experiences of when they “broke the rules” at ESPN during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“And @ashbrewkaminsky remember when we got chewed out for breaking Covid rules by standing too close to each other and posting this pic?” Steele wrote, including an image of the pair posing together on the “SportsCenter” set.

Kaminsky replied, “But sitting next to each other at the desk live on TV was totally fine!!!”

Steele left ESPN in August 2023 when both sides settled a lawsuit she filed that stemmed from her being taken off the air in October 2021 for comments made about the company’s COVID-19 vaccine policy.

“I have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely,” said Steele, who had worked at ESPN since 2007.

In February, Steele was named the recipient of the “new media” seat in a press conference at the White House.

Kaminsky and former NBA player Frank Kaminsky, currently playing overseas, are expecting their first child.

In the wake of the news about the lawsuit, Sharpe has remained on ESPN’s “First Take” on Mondays and Tuesdays, as well as his “NightCap” and “Club Shay Shay” podcasts.

ESPN has yet to address the matter publicly.

Stephen A. Smith said he received permission to deliver a statement from ESPN and Disney co-chair Jimmy Pitaro, who made it clear the company is in the process of gathering facts and is taking the matter very seriously.

“I recruited Shannon… but I’m not the boss,” Smith said Tuesday on his self-titled YouTube show, referring to when Sharpe left Fox for ESPN in June 2023. “Those are other folks. There are layers to this and there are certain layers that even I am not on. I can tell you I also spoke to co-chairman of Disney, the boss, Jimmy Pitaro, who made it very, very clear that [ESPN is] taking this matter very seriously and we are looking into this very, very closely and once we gather as many facts as we possibly can, we will go from there.

“And that is all he said. And I can mention his name because I received his permission to say that. I don’t know what that means.”

Smith added he spoke with Sharpe about the matter.

“[Sharpe] was emphatic in stating his innocence that this is a shakedown,” Smith said, referring to Sharpe’s comments about the matter in an Instagram video early Tuesday.

Sharpe, who denied the allegations through his lawyer in a statement on Monday, doubled down on his denial and called it a “shakedown.”

In her complaint, “Jane Doe” alleges Sharpe committed assault, sexual assault, battery, sexual battery and engaged in the intentional infliction of emotional distress during a “rocky consensual relationship” that lasted nearly two years.

The plaintiff, who is more than 30 years younger than him, alleges Sharpe brutally sexually assaulted her several times at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025.

In a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Sharpe’s counsel, Lanny J. Davis, said his client was in the midst of mediation with the woman who accused him of rape, when she filed a civil lawsuit against him “without warning,” demanding $50 million.

Davis said Sharpe was willing to pay the plaintiff “at least $10 million” in a settlement, and that the plaintiff “took advantage” of the former NFL star’s “very lucrative” contract for his “Club Shay Shay” podcast that was recently reported.

Sharpe was sued a day before Front Office Sports reported that he is expected to sign a deal for his “Club Shay Shay” podcast that would exceed $100 million after his contract with Colin Cowherd’s The Volume podcast network recently expired.