Is Shannon Sharpe Mentioned in Joy Taylor, Skip Bayless 42-Page Lawsuit? ESPN Analyst Denies

Skip Bayless and other big names at Fox Sports have found themselves in hot water after a former employee filed a lawsuit against the media giants. Noushin Faraji, who worked with the company for over a decade, alleged in her suit that one of the reasons she was fired was her repeated refusal to engage in s*xual relations with Bayless. After the news went public, multiple speculations have come out, with some wondering if Shannon Sharpe was one of the names mentioned by Faraji.

The lawsuit mentioned FS1 executive vice president of content, Charlie Dixon, network host Joy Taylor and Bayless as defendants. Sharpe’s name did not appear anywhere in the plaint. The only time the ESPN analyst was mentioned was when Faraji disclosed Bayless’ comments during one of the alleged encounters. As per the lawsuit, Skip had once accused Faraji of maintaining intimate relations with Sharpe.

The lawsuit alleged Bayless of making many s*xual advances toward the Iranian-origin hairdresser, even offering her $1.5 million for engaging in intimate acts. And, Taylor and the HR department at Fox covered it up to protect one of their biggest assets. It also named Dixon as a defendant in a case of s*xual battery. The executive VP allegedly groped Faraji at an office birthday party.

Faraji claimed she reported his behavior to Taylor, who told her to forget about it. Taylor allegedly reminded her that both women had their jobs because of Dixon, and that they could lose them if she went public.

In response to the suit, a Fox spokesperson said, “We take these allegations seriously and have no further comment at this time given this pending litigation.”

Sharpe, meanwhile, briefly spoke on his YouTube channel about the allegations against Bayless, his former co-host from the FS1 days.

“Nothing to do with me”: Sharpe responds to allegations against FS1

On Nightcap with Chad Johnson, Sharpe was hosting a live Q&A session when the allegations were brought up. Shannon responded after a fan demanded he address the elephant in the room since he was trending on Twitter after the lawsuit was made public.

“That ain’t got nothing to do with me. So there’s nothing to address. I don’t know why everybody keep — If you notice, everybody’s posting it, they got me. In the 42 pages, they don’t mention nothing about Shannon Sharpe did anything. But y’all want to get clicks. So y’all mention me,” Sharpe said.

Sharpe’s point is valid. People have been speculating about his involvement even though no allegations have been leveled against him.

Shannon had left Fox last year, after claiming that Bayless had disrespected him. The co-hosts verbally disagreed on many topics during deliberations on the show. And the NFL Hall of Famer felt their relationship was beyond repair after Bayless took multiple shots at his playing career. 

“You can say I’m loud, you can say I’m obnoxious, you can say I’m arrogant. But to try to poo-poo my career, a seventh-rounder that started out on special teams and played so well that I got into the Hall of Fame. To try to minimize that was disheartening for me…. I considered Skip a friend,” he told Stephen A. Smith last year.

After leaving Fox, Sharpe joined ESPN as a panelist on First Take with Smith, while continuing to host Nightcap alongside Johnson. Bayless, meanwhile, parted ways with Fox Sports in August last year.