Brett Favre has filed a lawsuit against ex-NFL players and current media personalities Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee, as well as Mississippi Auditor Shad White, for “defamatory allegations” made about the legendary quarterback’s involvement in the Mississippi welfare fund fraud scheme, according to DailyMail.com
According to DailyMail.com, a spokesperson said “Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee tried to further their careers by making baseless defamatory allegations against Brett Favre.
Sharpe, a Hall of Fame tight end with the Broncos and Ravens, called Favre a ‘sleazeball’ on his FS1 show in September while accusing the retired quarterback of knowingly stealing $1.1 million in Mississippi welfare funds in exchange for speeches that he never made. McAfee, a former Colts punter who now hosts a popular SiriusXM podcast, accused Favre of ‘stealing from the poor people of Mississippi.’
McAfee similarly claimed that Favre knew about the origin of the funds.
‘Every time his name gets brought up, we have to mention that he tied the hands of the poor people and took money right out of their pockets,’ McAfee said about Favre, according to the defamation lawsuit.
‘[Favre is] certainly in the middle of stealing from poor people in Mississippi right now,’ McAfee allegedly said on another occasion.
‘Today, Brett Favre has sued [Sharpe and McAfee],’ the retired quarterback’s spokesman told DailyMail.com. ‘Mr. Favre has spent his retirement from the NFL focused, on, among other things, helping people suffering from concussions. Sadly, Shannon and Pat have decided to spend their time making false public statements against Brett.’
The former Southern Mississippi star is seeking nominal and general damages from all three, ‘including compensation for injury to Favre’s character and reputation.’ He is also seeking unspecified punitive or exemplary damages.
Spokespeople for Fox Sports and the Pat McAfee Show did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
