Brett Favre and Shannon Sharpe have been at each other for years on end now. The Green Bay Packers legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer did not at all like what the tight end said about his involvement in the Mississippi welfare scandal. Now, it looks like the Denver Broncos great and ESPN host is getting his defamation lawsuit revived on him once again.
Brett Favre's camp led by lawyer Amit Vora posits that Shannon Sharpe accused the Packers legend of theft. There have been no charges filed against Favre since that debacle. Sharpe went on Undisputed to claim that Favre was ‘stealing from the lowest of the low'. He even called the Pro Football Hall of Fame signal-caller a ‘mofo' in live air. Since then, the case has been dismissed by a Mississippi federal judge and has not gotten traction.
All of that held true until Favre's lawyer started speaking to three 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals judges, per ESPN. Vora said that the case should be revived for how grave of a statement Sharpe made regarding Favre's involvement in the Mississippi welfare scandal.
“That's actionable defamation because that reasonable listener is taking the word steal literally and not figuratively. If you read his comments in context, it's quite clear that he was expressing his opinions rhetorically,” the Packers legend's lawyer said.
Why was the case dismissed?
The case had already been dismissed because Sharpe was protected by ‘rhetorical hyperbole.' Kevin Starrett, the judge who dismissed the case, wrote about why the Broncos legend would not get charged with any of Favre's accusations.
“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,” his ruling said.
What exactly did Shannon Sharpe say about Brett Favre?
The Mississippi welfare scandal had $70 million in unaccounted funds which makes it one of the biggest public service misconducts. With Favre's involvement, Sharpe could not help but blast him. This was especially since the Packers legend had already earned a lot from the NFL.
“You made a hundred-plus million dollars in the NFL, and to talk about, well [Favre] didn't know. This is what Brett Favre texted, ‘If you were to pay me, is there any way the media can find out where it came from and how much?'… He stole money from people who really needed that money,” the Broncos legend and current ESPN host said.
After the dismissal, Sharpe moved on from Undisputed and joined First Take. He still has not made a comment about this case revival given that he has been focused on the NBA Draft, NFL training camps, and other sports conversations.
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