Hall of Fame football player Shannon Sharpe demanded Tuesday that a 10-minute "sex tape" of himself be publicly disclosed, insisting he's the target of a "shakedown" by a woman accusing him of rape in a civil lawsuit.
Sharpe made the unusual request on Instagram two days after a woman who says she was in an "exclusive relationship" with Sharpe accused him of sexual abuse in a Nevada lawsuit.
Sharpe, a TV analyst and podcaster, lashed out at both the Jane Doe accuser and her attorney, Tony Buzbee, who also represented several female massage therapists who accused quarterback Deshaun Watson of sexual assault. (Watson has strongly denied the allegations.)
"I believe he's going to release a 30-second clip of a sex tape that tries to make me look guilty and play into every stereotype you could possibly imagine," Sharpe said. "That video should actually be 10 minutes or so. Hey, Tony, instead of releasing your edit, put the whole video out. I don't have it, or I would myself."
Sharpe and his lawyer have named the woman who filed this lawsuit. NBC News does not name sexual assault accusers unless they voluntarily identify themselves in public.
The suit seeks more than $50 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
"The encounter in question took place during the day at her invitation, and now that appears to be a deliberate setup coordinated by" the plaintiff, Sharpe said.
He insists he did nothing wrong.
Sharpe pointed out that Buzbee once withdrew a lawsuit against Jay-Z.
"This is a shakedown," Sharpe said. "I'm going to be open, transparent and defend myself, because this isn't right. This is all being orchestrated by Tony Buzbee, who has targeted Jay-Z."
The accuser said Sharpe was prone to angry outbursts and shared an audio recording Tuesday of an argument they had on the phone.
In the recording, the accuser tells Sharpe: "Don't manipulate me."
He responds, "If you say that one more time, I'm going to f---ing choke the s--- out of you when I see you."
An attorney for Sharpe, Lanny Davis, insisted it's clear that Sharpe wasn't being literal.
"I don't have a confirmation from Mr. Sharpe himself or his attorneys about the authenticity of the tape, but we have no reason to dispute this is what Mr. Sharpe said," Davis said.
"I do know that it was in the middle of an argument of this particular conversation and that he said it in the heat of the moment and did not mean the words explicitly.”
Buzbee said his client will go forward with the lawsuit despite Sharpe's pushback.
"Doxxing and trying to humiliate or discredit Jane Doe won’t deter her from pursuing justice in court," he said.
