Judge rules ex-NFL star Shannon Sharpe did not defame Brett Favre on FS1 talk show

A federal judge has dismissed former NFL quarterback Brett Favre's defamation suit against fellow Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, calling the comments Sharpe made on a Fox Sports 1 broadcast "rhetorical hyperbole."

Favre filed suit in February, alleging the former Denver Broncos tight end made "egregiously false" statements about him on the talk show "Undisputed" when discussing Favre's connection to a welfare misspending case in Mississippi.

Sharpe in September 2022 accused the Hall of Fame quarterback of "taking from the underserved" and said he "stole money from people that really needed that money" as part of the huge public corruption case.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett ruled that Sharpe's words were "examples of protected, colorful speech referring to needy families in Mississippi."

Favre had also sued ESPN talk show host Pat McAfee, but dropped that suit after McAfee publicly apologized for comments he made about the scandal.

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On Monday's edition of his "Nightcap" podcast with fellow NFL alum Chad Johnson, Sharpe praised the judge's ruling.

"I wasn't going to issue an apology because if I'd have issued an apology I'd have felt I'd done something wrong," he said. "I just hope the people of Mississippi have their day in court."

In his ruling, Starrett wrote that "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."

Favre is not facing criminal charges in the investigation, but is among more than three dozen people the state is suing to recover more than $77 million in misspent funds from the state's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. That money instead went toward projects at the University of Southern Mississippi − Favre's alma mater − that benefited wealthy and well-connected people.