Stephen A. Smith said he received permission to deliver a message from ESPN and Disney about the $50 million civil lawsuit accusing Shannon Sharpe of rape that was filed by a woman under the pseudonym “Jane Doe” on Sunday.
During Tuesday’s installment of his self-titled YouTube show, Smith explained that he spoke with co-chairman Jimmy Pitaro, who made it clear that the company is in the process of gathering facts and taking the matter very seriously.
“I recruited Shannon… but I’m not the boss,” Smith said, 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 emphasized that he wasn’t sure how the matter will move forward at ESPN.
Shannon Sharpe speaks onstage during 2024 HOPE Global Forum on December 10, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Getty Images
“I have no idea what direction ESPN and Disney will go in when it comes to this matter,” Smith said. “All I do know is I won’t be me making the decision. It will be others upstairs. In the end, all of us have someone to answer to. No matter how maverick we try to be and we own our own business… there are a bosses. That’s the situation that unfortunately that Shannon Sharpe finds himself in at this particular moment in time.”
Smith added that 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 earlier 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 the video.
“He was on national television with me Sunday night when the story came out,” Smith said. ” I didn’t know anything about it until we got off the air. But he was on the air.”
Smith said he spoke on the subject because he is on national television with Sharpe, who appears on “First Take” two time per week.
Smith said ESPN was aware that he was going to cover the news about Sharpe on his YouTube show, which is solely owned and operated by him.
“In my perfect world, [Sharpe] moves on, and somehow, some way, we find this all to be false,” Smith said. “But it doesn’t seem like that’s the way things are about to go down, considering who [the woman’s lawyer] Mr. [Tony] Buzbee is and how emphatic his client is proclaiming that she is right and she is telling the truth. I don’t know where this is going to go. I can’t speak to anything else.”
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.
Sharpe has appeared on ESPN regularly, as well as his “Nightcap” podcast, since the lawsuit was filed in Nevada on Sunday.
In a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Sharpe’s counsel, Lanny J. Davis, said his client was in the midst of a 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 expired recently.
Davis said his client will countersue the woman.
Buzbee confirmed that his client turned down a $10 million offer from Sharpe in order to proceed with litigation.
