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In a ruling that should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody, a federal judge dismissed Brett Favre‘s defamation lawsuit against Shannon Sharpe on Monday.
Favre sued Sharpe, who at the time was working for Fox Sports, over comments Sharpe made about the hall of fame quarterback’s involvement in a Mississippi welfare fraud scheme.
“You got to be a sorry mofo to steal from the lowest of the low,” Sharpe said Undisputed over a year ago.
The comment was in reference to a Mississippi Today a story revealing that when Favre discussed receiving funding from a welfare-funded nonprofit director, he asked if the public would find out.
“Mississippi is the poorest state in our country — its citizens,” Sharpe continued. “So if they’re the poorest state, Brett Favre is taking from the underserved. You made $100 plus million in the NFL. And to talk about, ‘Well, he 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?’ If you’ve got to ask this question, ‘Is there any way the media can find out?’, you already know you’re doing something wrong.”
Favre also filed suit against fellow ESPN star Pat McAFee. McAfee stated that Favre “tied the hands of the poor people and took money from right out of their pockets.”
But he dropped that suit shortly after it was filed.
Both cases had little to no basis.
Judge Explains Decision To Throw Out Brett Favre Lawsuit Vs. Shannon Sharpe
Judge Keith Starrett threw out the case against Sharpe on the basis that his speech is constitutionally protected.
“Because Sharpe’s comments are constitutionally protected rhetorical hyperbole using loose, figurative language, they cannot support a defamation claim as a matter of law,” he wrote per a report from ESPN’s Xuan Thai and Anthony Olivieri.
Sharpe also stated in his comments that Favre had not been criminally charge. Judge Starrett noted that fact in his ruling.
Neither Favre nor Sharpe commented on the rulings. But it’s just the latest in a series losses for the former Packers great.