Shannon Sharpe’s future on ESPN show unknown as $50M rape lawsuit rages on

Shannon Sharpe’s future on ESPN’s “First Take” may be in jeopardy after he was accused of rape and battery.

Sharpe’s co-host, Stephen A. Smith, addressed the legal battle on his eponymous podcast Tuesday, suggesting that the network is considering taking the former NFL player off the air.

Smith, 57, told listeners that he recently spoke with ESPN honcho Jimmy Pitaro, who made it clear they were taking the allegations “very seriously.”

Although the TV personality admittedly “recruited Shannon” to join him on the show in June 2023, he noted that he is “not the boss” and has “no idea what direction ESPN and Disney will go in when it comes to this matter.”

“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,” he explained.

“And that is all he said. And I can mention his name because I received his permission to say that.”

Smith said he doesn’t know exactly “what that means” for Sharpe — but hopes his “friend” is cleared in the matter.

“In my perfect world … the case is ultimately dropped and Shannon is allowed to continue on ‘First Take’ and continue to thrive and shine and have an illustrious career in the podcast stratosphere,” he continued. “In my perfect world, he moves on, and somehow, some way, we find this all to be false.”

However, he noted that “it doesn’t seem like that’s the way things are about to go down.”

Like ESPN, Smith is waiting to have all the facts before making a judgment call.

“Even though I got love and respect for Shannon Sharpe and I am sincerely hopeful and prayerful that he is completely innocent of the allegations that have been levied against him, I can’t sit here and speak to his innocence or guilt from a knowledgeable place because I have nothing to do with this.”

The sports broadcaster said he “spoke” with Sharpe and he “emphatically proclaimed his innocence.”

Sharpe was live on air with Smith Monday when news broke about the bombshell $50 million lawsuit.

In her complaint, Jane Doe claimed that Sharpe brutally sexually assaulted her at the end of 2024 and again at the beginning of 2025.

The woman, who is more than 30 years younger than Sharpe, claimed she met the former athlete at a gym in 2023 and was in a “rocky consensual relationship” with him for nearly two years.

Doe alleged that Sharpe “forcibly anally raped her” in October 2023 after she began distancing herself after learning he slept with another woman.

She claimed he sexually assaulted her again in January 2025 without wearing protection.

Sharpe “categorically” denied all of her allegations of “coercion and misconduct, especially the gross lie of ‘rape,’” and his legal team released numerous explicit text exchanges he allegedly had with Doe from March 2023 to January 2025.

His legal team claimed the correspondence proved the two had “a consensual, adult relationship that included role-playing, sexual language, and fantasy scenarios explicitly requested by [Doe].”