It’s been a while since we heard from the ol’ gunslinger Brett Favre. Still embroiled in legal issues related to his alleged role in a welfare fraud scheme in Mississippi, Favre is on the offensive this time as his lawyers are asking a federal appeals court to reinstate his defamation suit against Shannon Sharpe.
Brett Favre is trying to revive his lawsuit against Shannon Sharpe
Favre wants a federal court to allow his case against Sharpe to continue.
Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
The suit alleges that Favre was defamed in 2022 by Sharpe during an episode of Skip and Shannon: Undisputed in which the allegations against Favre were discussed. In the episode Sharpe said that Favre was “taking from the underserved,” adding that he “stole money from people that really needed that money” — before calling him the “lowest of the low” for engaging in the scheme.
Favre, who has maintained his innocence amid mounting evidence against him, had his lawsuit against Sharpe thrown out by a Mississippi judge in October of 2023. In that ruling the judge said that Sharpe was exercising his first amendment right by speaking about Favre on his sports broadcast — adding that no reasonable person would believe that Favre physically stole money from the needy.
“Here, no reasonable person listening to the Broadcast would think that Favre actually went into the homes of poor people and took their money — that he committed the crime of theft/larceny against any particular poor person in Mississippi,” Starrett wrote.
Though Favre’s lawyers disagreed, saying the judge intentionally misinterpreted Sharpe’s words, saying that a reasonable viewer could easily mistake them as fact. Sharpe’s legal team are fighting back, saying that their client made a loose characterization of the facts which a viewer of his show would understand.
Favre was most-recently deposed on December of 2023 where he was questioned about the welfare fraud scandal. The former NFL quarterback is listed as a defendant in a civil suit along with dozens of others implicated in the scheme with resulted in Favre receiving massive payments for speaking engagements, support of the drug Prevacus (which Favre was an investor), as well as $1.7M which was given to Southern Mississippi for the construction of a new volleyball court.
The federal appeals court is slated to hear Favre’s case on Tuesday.
See More:
