Ex-ESPN employees livid at network's handling of Shannon Sharpe's rape lawsuit
A pair of ex-ESPN employees are angry at the network's handling of Shannon Sharpe as he remains on the air amid a $50million rape lawsuit.
The 56-year-old Sharpe has been accused of rape by an ex-girlfriend who, according to the lawsuit, was 19 when she first met the analyst and three-time Super Bowl winner.
Sharpe has denied the allegations and appeared on 'First Take' on Tuesday per usual before missing the show on Wednesday for what ESPN has said was a scheduled day off. He is also set to be in Green Bay on Thursday night to contribute to the network's NFL Draft coverage.
Nonetheless, after audio emerged of Sharpe threatening to ' choke the s***' out of the woman, former 'SportsCenter' anchors Sage Steele and Ashley Brewer-Kaminsky have lashed out at their former employer.
Steele, who worked as a surrogate for Donald Trump in the last election, accused the company of an anti-conservative bias.
'There's a long list of examples where ESPN/Disney considers having conservative viewpoints a much greater offense than questionable character,' she wrote on X.
Steele's post came in response to a post which 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.'
Brewer-Kaminsky also chimed in and replied to Steele, saying that she was 'chewed out' for posting a picture with a Republican congressman at a Conor McGregor fight to her Instagram story.
Steele then replied that the pair was also 'chewed out' for standing too close to each other for a photo during Covid.
'But sitting next to each other at the desk live on TV was totally fine!!!,' Brewer-Kaminsky sarcastically responded.
Another ex-ESPNer, Sean Salisbury, also responded with several laughing-crying emojis.
The company has previously instructed employees to avoid discussing politics on air, though some - including Steele - have suggested that the rule only applied to conservative-leaning opinions.
She ultimately left ESPN in 2023, two years after she was suspended for criticizing the company's Covid vaccine mandate.
Steele later brought a lawsuit to ESPN following that incident, which was settled by both sides before she left the company.
Brewer also lost her job as an anchor in 2023.
This week, Sharpe's lawyer said he tried to settle with the woman for around $10m. ESPN has not commented regarding the situation.
A trove of texts released by Sharpe's lawyer also shows one exchange between him and his accuser in which she says 'no means no' after an alleged encounter.
Sharpe did not comment on the allegations while on ESPN, though he called the lawsuit a 'shakedown' in a video posted to his Instagram, and said the accuser's lawyer, Tony Buzbee, 'targets black men.'
Buzbee previously represented the women who settled sexual misconduct lawsuits against NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson, and the woman who dropped her sexual assault accusations against Jay-Z.
A report from OutKick has said that Sharpe's future in ESPN is now in question.
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