Brett Favre looks to revive defamation suit vs. Shannon Sharpe - ESPN

NEW ORLEANS — Lawyers for retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to revive a defamation lawsuit Favre filed against a fellow Pro Football Hall of Fame member, former tight end Shannon Sharpe, amid the backdrop of a Mississippi welfare scandal that is one of the state's largest public corruption cases.

A federal judge in Mississippi threw out the lawsuit in October, saying Sharpe used constitutionally protected speech on a sports broadcast when he criticized Favre's connection to the welfare misspending case.

Favre lawyer Amit Vora told three 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges in New Orleans that the lawsuit should be revived, arguing that Sharpe accused Favre, who has not been charged with a crime, of theft.

Sharpe said during a September 2022 broadcast of the Fox Sports show «Skip and Shannon: Undisputed» that Favre was «taking from the underserved,» that he «stole money from people that really needed that money» and that someone would have to be a sorry person «to steal from the lowest of the low.»

«That's actual defamation, because that reasonable listener is taking the word steal literally and not figuratively,» Vora said.

Sharpe attorney Joseph Terry told the judges that Sharpe's remarks were clearly an opinion offered when he was asked about a news report on the Mississippi welfare scandal and how the reports will affect Favre's legacy.

«If you read his comments in context, it's quite clear that he was expressing his opinions rhetorically,» Terry said.

The panel gave no indication when it would rule.

Mississippi State Auditor Shad White has said that from 2016 to 2019, the Mississippi Department of Human Services misspent more than $77 million from the Temporary Assistance