Current:Home > FinanceBrett Favre is asking an appeals court to reinstate his defamation lawsuit against Shannon Sharpe -Quantum Capital Pro
Brett Favre is asking an appeals court to reinstate his defamation lawsuit against Shannon Sharpe
View
Date:2025-04-12 10:33:19
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Lawyers for retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre will ask a federal appeals court Tuesday to revive a defamation lawsuit Favre filed against a fellow Pro Football of Fame member, former tight end Shannon Sharpe, amid the backdrop of a Mississippi welfare scandal that is one of the state’s largest public corruption cases.
A federal judge in Mississippi threw out the lawsuit in October, saying Sharpe used constitutionally protected speech on a sports broadcast when he criticized Favre’s connection to the welfare misspending case.
Favre hopes the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will reinstate the lawsuit.
Sharpe said during a September 2022 broadcast of the Fox Sports show “Skip and Shannon: Undisputed” that Favre was “taking from the underserved,” that he “stole money from people that really needed that money” and that someone would have to be a sorry person “to steal from the lowest of the low.”
Mississippi State Auditor Shad White has said that from 2016 to 2019, the Mississippi Department of Human Services misspent more than $77 million from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program — funds intended to help some of the poorest people in the U.S.
Among White’s findings was that Favre improperly received $1.1 million in speaking fees from a nonprofit organization that spent TANF money with approval from the Department of Human Services. The money was to go toward a $5 million volleyball arena at The University of Southern Mississippi, which he attended and where his daughter was playing the sport.
Favre has paid back $1.1 million, but White said in a February court filing that the former quarterback still owes $729,790 because interest caused growth in the original amount he owed.
Favre, who lives in Mississippi, has denied wrongdoing and is not facing criminal charges. He is among more than three dozen people or companies being sued by the state Department of Human Services.
U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett’s October ruling said Sharpe’s remarks about the case were constitutionally protected “rhetorical hyperbole.”
“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,” Starrett wrote.
Favre’s attorneys said in a brief that the ruling mischaracterized Sharpe’s remarks. “Here, a reasonable listener could and would have interpreted Sharpe’s repeated statements to the effect that Favre ‘stole money’ from ‘the underserved’ as factual assertions about Favre,” they said.
Sharpe’s attorneys argued in briefs that Starrett got it right, referring to Sharpe’s remarks as “loose, figurative language between media commentators about a significant public controversy important to the discourse of our nation.”
____
Associated Press writer Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi, contributed.
veryGood! (79725)
Related
- South Korea's acting president moves to reassure allies, calm markets after Yoon impeachment
- Police are investigating the death of a man following an ‘incident’ at a New England Patriots game
- Lahaina's 150-year-old banyan tree that was charred by the wildfires is showing signs of new life
- Shiver me timbers! Long John Silver's giving away free fish for National Talk Like a Pirate Day
- Have Dry, Sensitive Skin? You Need To Add These Gentle Skincare Products to Your Routine
- Consumers can now claim part of a $245 million Fortnite refund, FTC says. Here's how to file a claim.
- Why Tyra Banks Is Skipping the Plastic Surgery Stuff Ahead of Her 50th Birthday
- Fed-up consumers are increasingly going after food companies for misleading claims
- Former Danish minister for Greenland discusses Trump's push to acquire island
- The Truth About Kim Kardashian and Odell Beckham Jr.'s Relationship Status
Ranking
- Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
- Kraft recalling American cheese slices due to possible choking hazard
- 'Missing' kayaker faked Louisiana drowning death to avoid child-sex charges, police say
- Latest maneuvering on North Carolina budget, casinos could end with Medicaid expansion going down
- Former Danish minister for Greenland discusses Trump's push to acquire island
- Most of Spain’s female players end boycott of national soccer team after government intervenes
- Vanna White Officially Extends Wheel of Fortune Contract
- Why is the UAW on strike? These are their contract demands as they negotiate with the Big Three
Recommendation
Scoot flight from Singapore to Wuhan turns back after 'technical issue' detected
Fantasy football rankings for Week 3: Running back depth already becoming a problem
Shiver me timbers! Long John Silver's giving away free fish for National Talk Like a Pirate Day
Iran’s president urges US to demonstrate it wants to return to the 2015 nuclear deal
John Galliano out at Maison Margiela, capping year of fashion designer musical chairs
AP PHOTOS: Traditional autumn fair brings color and joy into everyday lives of Romania’s poor
Former Indiana congressman sentenced to 22 months in prison for insider trading convictions
UNGA Briefing: Security Council, climate summit and what else is going on at the United Nations