Ex-QB Brett Favre Sues Shannon Sharpe, Pat McAfee

Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre has filed defamation lawsuits against Mississippi state auditor Shad White and sports commentators Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee. 

The Athletic reports the suits center around allegations that Favre received taxpayer money for speeches he did not give. Favre is also alleged to have conspired with former Mississippi governor Phil Bryant to use welfare funds to construct a new volleyball facility at Southern Miss.

The complaints against Sharpe and McAfee allege both men made defamatory statements about Favre on their platforms “to make headlines and gain audience by sullying Favre’s reputation.”

Brett Favre

The complaint against White, filed Thursday in Mississippi’s Hinds County, alleges he “made egregiously false and defamatory statements” in interviews and media appearances “to further his political career.”

Favre has publicly denied wrongdoing in response to his alleged involvement in a high-profile public corruption case in Mississippi.

Favre, 53, was among 38 people or organizations sued by the state of Mississippi in 2022 to recoup the money it said was fraudulently diverted from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, a federal program that provides grants to states for families in need.

Favre received $1.1 million for speeches he did not give, according to a Mississippi state audit report from May 2020. Additionally, the University of Southern Mississippi, Favre’s alma mater and the school where his daughter played volleyball, received $5 million in welfare funds, and a volleyball facility was later built at the school. Text messages between former Mississippi governor Bryant and Favre show how Bryant guided Favre in his attempts to move the volleyball center project forward, Mississippi Today reported. 

Favre has not been charged with wrongdoing and posted on social media that he did not know where the funding for the volleyball facility came from.