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Last year, former NFL quarterback Brett Favre filed a lawsuit against Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee for comments they made about the Hall of Famer’s alleged involvement in a political corruption scandal in Mississippi.
Sharpe, who was working for Fox Sports at the time, said about Favre on Undisputed, “You got to be a sorry mofo to steal from the lowest of the low.”
U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett would later throw out Brett Favre’s lawsuit against Shannon Sharpe, writing in his decision, “Because Sharpe’s comments are constitutionally protected rhetorical hyperbole using loose, figurative language, they cannot support a defamation claim as a matter of law.”
Judge Starrett added, “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.”
Now, hot on the heels of news that the journalist who reported about Brett Favre’s alleged involvement in the Mississippi welfare scandal is facing prison time, Favre has asked a federal appeals court to revive his defamation lawsuit against Sharpe.
According to Kevin McGill of the Associated Press, “Favre’s lawyer, Amit Vora, told three 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges in New Orleans that the lawsuit should be revived, arguing that Sharpe accused Favre, who has not been charged with a crime, of theft.”
Vora said about Sharpe’s comments in his quest to get the lawsuit reinstated, “That’s actual defamation, because that reasonable listener is taking the word steal literally and not figuratively.”
Brett Favre’s attorney also claimed during oral arguments, “He’s unable to counteract this insidious and spreading lie. There’s readily available evidence that viewers, in fact, took this accusation literally [and] that this accusation harmed Favre’s reputation. In fact, [Favre] has never stolen money from anyone, and yet that evidence may never see the light of day.
“It renders Favre powerless to counteract this attack on his reputation.”
Meanwhile, Shannon Sharpe’s attorney Joseph Terry told the court, “If you read his comments in context, it’s quite clear that he was expressing his opinions rhetorically, fiery, but they were protected by the First Amendment.”
The three judges on the appeals panel did not state when it would rule on the lawsuit, but it is expected to occur sometime over the next few weeks.