ESPN contributor Shannon Sharpe announced Thursday he is stepping away from the network as he faces a $50 million lawsuit on allegations that he raped a woman whom he was in a relationship with. While he contends with that suit, additional incidents from his past have come to light. 

Before Sharpe’s time at ESPN, when he was the cohost of FS1’s Undisputed, he was accused of choking a female production assistant in the workplace, two sources with knowledge of the incident tell Front Office Sports. 

One source said Sharpe and Fox settled with the accuser for several hundred thousand dollars. There was no lawsuit filed against Sharpe in the incident.

A rep for Sharpe told FOS, “There was no incident of choking involving Shannon on the FS1 set. On one occasion, he and a few colleagues were involved in some light physical interaction in a playful context. Fox Sports later chose to resolve the matter privately. For further details, we recommend contacting Fox directly.” A Fox Sports spokesperson declined to comment prior to the statement from Sharpe’s camp and could not immediately be reached for follow-up. 

Sharpe cohosted Undisputed from 2016 to 2023. The timing of the incident was unknown. 

In 2010, Sharpe briefly stepped away from his role on CBS’s NFL Today studio show after he was accused of sexual assault. He returned to the network after a restraining order was dismissed. 

Earlier this week, a woman filed a lawsuit in Nevada accusing Sharpe of raping her. The woman, represented by attorney Tony Buzbee, who has previously filed suits against Deshaun Watson, Jay-Z, and Diddy, said in the suit that she was 19 when she met Sharpe at a gym in Los Angeles in 2023. Sharpe is 56. 

The lawsuit claimed that the two had a consensual relationship that grew tense when Sharpe went on Instagram Live last October, apparently having sex with another woman. (Sharpe said at the time that he went live by accident.) 

Buzbee later released audio of Sharpe threatening to choke the accuser. Sharpe’s attorney, Lanny Davis, has claimed that Sharpe and the plaintiff engaged in role-playing. He acknowledged in a call with reporters earlier this week that the leaked audio was real, but said that it was in the “heat of the moment,” and not meant literally.

“It is our opinion, this is a classic case of blackmail. The plaintiff demanded tens of millions of dollars in a proceeding that’s called mediation. In return for her not publishing this tape, which she showed the lawyers for Mr. Sharpe,” said Davis.

Davis said that Sharpe had offered at least $10 million to settle the suit before it was filed, and that they were blindsided when talks broke down and news of the lawsuit broke in the media. 

“The relationship in question was 100% consensual,” Sharpe wrote on X in response to the suit in which the Jane Doe alleged rape.

“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.”

ESPN said in a statement, “This is a serious situation, and we agree with Shannon’s decision to step away.”

NBC Sports parent company Comcast sees its upcoming rights portfolio as a key tool to fight a mixed set of financial results and broader economic uncertainty.

Comcast reported declines in revenue, net income, and cable and broadband subscribers Thursday for the first quarter of 2025, a period that included impacts from accelerating cord-cutting, heightened competition, and global turbulence due to tariffs pursued by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Similar to prior quarters, though, Comcast sees its sports content as a critical driver, with its rights including the National Football League, the Olympics, the Premier League, the 2026 FIFA World Cup for U.S. Spanish-language audiences, and the Big Ten Conference, among other properties, and beginning this fall, the National Basketball Association. In particular, NBC Sports will have a major confluence next February of its coverage of Super Bowl LX, the 2026 Winter Olympics, and the NBA All-Star Game. 

“We broadcast the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics right at the same time, and [then] the World Cup, which puts us in a very enviable position,” said Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts on an earnings call with analysts. “I really like our strategy, our balance sheet strength, regardless of global uncertainty. I feel we have a fantastic and unique company, and I’m quite optimistic.”

Broader Issues

The Peacock streaming service posted another big quarter, rising from 36 million subscribers at the end of 2024 to 41 million, with that boost coming primarily from a carriage with Charter Communications that allows Peacock to be bundled into that company’s cable packages. Peacock also grew its quarterly revenue 16% to $1.2 billion and cut its adjusted losses by more than half to $215 million as it moves closer to profitability, with the breadth of live sports content again cited as a key component.

Comcast, however, said its overall revenue fell 0.6% to $29.89 billion, and net income dropped 12.5% to $3.38 billion. Cable subscribers decreased by 427,000 to a new total of 12.1 million as cord-cutting grows further across the industry, while the company’s broadband customers also declined by 199,000 to 31.6 million. 

“In this intensely competitive environment, we are not winning the marketplace that is commensurate with the strength of [our] network and connectivity products,” said Comcast president Mike Cavanagh. 

Investors showed their frustration with those results, dropping Comcast shares by nearly 4% in Thursday trading to $33.19 per share, near a 52-week low. 

Comcast is still proceeding with plans to spin off most of its cable channels later this year.

Fewer NFL Draft prospects than originally anticipated will be in Green Bay to hear their names called, walk across the 250,000-square-foot stage, and hug commissioner Roger Goodell.

Heading into Thursday night’s first round, 15 players are set to attend the draft, down from the 17 who were announced last week. Last year, 13 players attended the draft in Detroit—the lowest amount in the last decade.

Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart is the most notable dropout in the past week. Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders was never committed to attending.

The widely projected top three picks will be in Green Bay, though: Miami quarterback Cam Ward, Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter, and Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter. So will Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty.

Shot Callers

While quarterbacks in this class aren’t as hot of a commodity as last year, when a record six signal-callers were drafted in Round 1, they will likely still drive some of the most intriguing storylines for viewers Thursday night, as ESPN and NFL Network enter the final year of their current draft media-rights agreements.

Earlier this week, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said the team’s potential interest in signing Aaron Rodgers “does not” impact whether Pittsburgh will pick a quarterback in the first round. The Steelers, who own the 21st pick, have been linked to Sanders by many draft experts. Rodgers, 41, who the Jets took a $49 million dead-cap hit to cut, has still not definitively said whether he wants to play in 2025.

Meanwhile, Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins could be on the trade block during the draft. Cousins, who was benched for rookie Michael Penix Jr. late last season, has $37.5 million in guaranteed money remaining on his contract. Atlanta GM Terry Fontenot said the franchise hasn’t “put a specific number” on how much of that money they would want a potential trade partner to pick up to deal Cousins.