The woman accusing Shannon Sharpe of sexual assault will not be releasing “key evidence” video to the media.
Tony Buzbee–the lawyer representing the woman accusing the ESPN personality of rape–will not be releasing the video that allegedly depicts the two engaging in sex. He calls the footage “key evidence” in their case against the former NFL star. Buzbee revealed to TMZ Sports on Tuesday, April 29 that he and his client have no plans right now to put the footage out to the media.
“The only reason you know about the existence of a video recording is that Mr. Sharpe specifically referenced it in his bulls— statement,” the Texas-based lawyer said. “The contents of the video was shared during the mediation process with Sharpe’s attorneys. Again, Sharpe and his team disclosed that, not us. Sharpe himself was offered on more than one occasion to view it himself. He declined. We’ve never made any claims or threats about it and won’t do so.”
“And no,” he continued, “we won’t be ‘releasing’ the video as it is key evidence in the case and will be treated as such.”
Sharpe brought up the existence of the video for the first time on April 22, just two days after Jane Doe filed her suit against him. The podcast host said in an Instagram post that it’s “a 30-second clip of a sex tape that tries to make me look guilty and play into every stereotype you could possibly imagine.”
He went on to claim that the full video “should actually be 10 minutes or so,” before encouraging Buzbee to release it to the public in its entirety.
Doe is suing Sharpe for $50 million, claiming that he raped her on more than one occasion toward the end of their nearly two-year-long relationship. In response to these claims, Sharpe and his legal team have insisted the former football player committed no wrongdoing, calling her lawsuit a “shakedown” attempt.
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