sport news Brett Favre SUES Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee over 'defamatory allegations' in ... trends now

Brett Favre is suing ex-NFL players and current media personalities Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee, as well as Mississippi Auditor Shad White, for 'defamatory allegations' made over the Packers legend's involvement in a $77 million welfare fraud scheme, DailyMail.com has learned.

'Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee tried to further their careers by making baseless defamatory allegations against Brett Favre,' a spokesperson for the 53-year-old told DailyMail.com. 

Sharpe, a Hall of Fame tight end with the Broncos and Ravens, called Favre a 'sleazeball' on his FS1 show in September while accusing the retired quarterback of knowingly stealing $1.1 million in Mississippi welfare funds in exchange for speeches that he never made. McAfee, a former Colts punter who now hosts a popular SiriusXM podcast, accused Favre of 'stealing from the poor people of Mississippi.' 

Favre has not been charged in the case, which has already resulted in several guilty pleas, and he has since repaid the $1.1million. However, Favre refused to pay $228,000 interest being charged to him by White, while insisting that he did not know the origin of the funds. 

In December, the Mississippi Department of Human Services dropped its $1.1million demand from Favre, admitting that he repaid the debt, while issuing a new $5 million demand, saying he used anti-poverty funds to pay for a volleyball arena at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi.

White, too, is being sued for defamation by Favre, who claims that the Mississippi Auditor repeatedly misled the public about his involvement in the case. 

'Shad White has done a disservice to the people of Mississippi,' Favre's spokesperson told DailyMail.com. 'Here is some free advice for Shad White: do what state auditors are supposed to do—fix the state's failure to have controls in place to ensure that it properly safeguards the taxpayers' money, not smear the reputations of private citizens to serve his own personal and political ambitions.'  

White claimed that Favre knew the money he received from the no-show speaking gigs came from a non-profit funded by state taxes, according to the defamation lawsuit filed Thursday in Mississippi. 

'[W]e know that Mr. Favre not only knew that he was receiving money from this non-profit which was funded by taxpayer dollars,' White told CNN on September 15, 2022, according to the lawsuit. 'We know that the funding for that was a sham, and we know that he knows that too.' 

McAfee similarly claimed that Favre knew about the origin of the funds.  

'Every time his name gets brought up, we have to mention that he tied the hands of the poor people and took money right out of their pockets,' McAfee said about Favre, according to the defamation lawsuit.

'[Favre is] certainly in the middle of stealing from poor people in Mississippi right now,' McAfee allegedly said on another occasion.

Sharpe also claimed that '[Favre] stole money from the people that really needed that money.' 

'Today, Brett Favre has sued [Sharpe and McAfee],' the retired quarterback's spokesman told DailyMail.com. 'Mr. Favre has spent his retirement from the NFL focused, on, among other things, helping people suffering from concussions. Sadly, Shannon and Pat have decided to spend their time making false public statements against Brett.' 

The former Southern Mississippi star is seeking nominal and general damages from all three, 'including compensation for injury to Favre's character and reputation.' He is also seeking unspecified punitive or exemplary damages.