Shannon Sharpe OUT at ESPN following sexual assault lawsuit settlement

Shannon Sharpe is not returning to ESPN’s “First Take” after the host was accused of sexual assault according to TMZ.

The former NFL star took a hiatus from “First Take” after he was accused of sexual assault by an ex-girlfriend. Today, ESPN decided Sharpe won’t be returning to the show, which comes a month after he settled the lawsuit.

Sharpe was facing a $50 million lawsuit from a Nevada woman who alleged Sharpe raped and threatened her over the course of a two-year relationship. In April, he took to X to share a statement that he was “electing to step aside temporarily” from his duties at ESPN, where he was prominently featured on “First Take,” a sports-talk roundtable show led by Stephen A. Smith.

His statement continued, “the relationship in question was 100% consensual,” while calling the allegations “false and disruptive.”

Sharpe’s lawyers and the woman (identified as “Jane Doe”) agreed to a settlement after “protracted and respectful” negotiations, her attorney, Tony Buzbee, said in a statement on X. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed and the complaint was dismissed with prejudice.