Judge dismisses Brett Favre defamation suit, saying Shannon Sharpe used hyperbole over welfare money

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed Brett Favre’s defamation lawsuit against fellow retired NFL player Shannon Sharpe. The judge ruled Monday that Sharpe used constitutionally protected speech on a sports broadcast when he criticized Favre’s connection to a welfare misspending case in Mississippi. Starrett ruled that Sharpe, a former tight end, was using “rhetorical hyperbole” in saying on air that Favre was “taking from the underserved,” that the former quarterback “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.” Favre sued in February over statements Sharpe made about him on the Fox Sports talk show “Skip and Shannon: Undisputed.”