Just when it looked like Shannon Sharpe‘s week couldn’t get any worse, it seems to have taken yet another turn. And unfortunately for him, this update comes with a hefty price tag.
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As we previously told you, just before the month of July came to a close, Sharpe was fired from his position at ESPN. He was a regular fixture on the network’s popular show “First Take,” but decided to take a leave of absence from it all following the shocking, $50 million sexual assault lawsuit lobbed against in April.
Fast forward three months later, it was announced that he and his accuser, OnlyFans model Gabriella Zuniga had settled for an undisclosed amount. While we don’t know exactly how much she got paid, hours after the news broke, Zuniga shared in a now-deleted post to social media that she was “retiring” from the online platform. Whatever the dollar amount was must be something that’s going to hit Sharpe’s pockets HARD if Zuniga is retiring, so much so that it may have been advantageous to have that nice-paying job at ESPN after all but, alas.
Now, as if Sharpe wasn’t dealing with enough bad news, according to newly filed court documents, he and his “Night Cap” podcast cohost and fellow NFL player Chad Ochocinco are now being sued for $20 million. This new defamation suit comes from Jimalita Tillman, the woman who went viral earlier in the summer for her super sexy cherry moment with Usher at his concert in the UK. In it, she alleges that Sharpe and Ochocinco knowingly pushed a false narrative about her marital status when they discussed the moment on their podcast, per the Daily Mail.
The lawsuit read: “The defendants made and disseminated false and defamatory statements suggesting that I was married and that my husband was filing for divorce due to my participation in this audience experience. I am not married, nor am I currently going through a divorce. I was not married at the time of the fan participation moment during the Usher concert.”
The suit went on to say that Sharpe and Ochocinco’s false narrative of her went viral just like her video, reaching millions of people which, in turn, prompted her to go on national media outlets to refute and combat all the chatter. Tillman also claimed she tried to reach out to them and their platform about it but her efforts were “disregarded” and they allegedly kept pushing the false narrative of her faux divorce.
As a result, Tillman claims she’s endured “significant harm” to her “character and reputation,” “emotional distress,” and adverse affects on “her personal and professional relationships.” Shay Shay Media is also a defendant in the case.
Sharpe has yet to respond to this new suit but according to Tillman, he and his team are “looking to resolve this matter quickly.”
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