Shannon Sharpe Reacts To Lawsuit Naming Skip Bayless, Joy Taylor

01/06/2025 09:39 AM

Shannon Sharpe briefly addressed the lawsuit against Fox Sports, which named Skip Bayless and Joy Taylor, among other people, during his show on Sunday night.

Sunday afternoon, Front Office Sports reported that a former Fox Sports hairstylist had filed a lawsuit against the network. Noushin Faraji, who worked at the network for more than a decade, filed a lengthy lawsuit against Fox Sports. Faraji accused Bayless of inappropriate behavior and alleged that the network had a troubling culture of sexism, misogyny and more.

"Ms. Faraji brings forth this action because for over a decade at Fox, she was forced to endure a misogynistic, racist, and ableist workplace where executives and talent were allowed to physically and verbally abuse workers with impunity," the suit alleges. 

"When Ms. Faraji and others came forward to report the wrongdoing, instead of addressing their concerns, Fox retaliated against them while the perpetrators and those who protected them were inexplicably promoted. This case thus represents yet another in a long line of cases chronicling the toxic culture at Fox, marked by bad faith promises and repeated failures to address a poisonous and entrenched patriarchy."

Both Bayless and Taylor, along with Fox Sports executive Charlie Dixon, were named in the lawsuit. Sharpe, who worked at Fox Sports before his departure for ESPN, was not.

Sharpe briefly addressed the lawsuit during his "Nightcap" show with Chad Johnson on Sunday evening.

"That has nothing to do with me. There's nothing to address. In those 42 pages, it doesn't mention that Shannon Sharpe did anything," Sharpe said. "But you all want to get clicks, so you mention me."

Sharpe worked at Fox Sports 1 for seven years. He was the co-host of "Undisputed" with Skip Bayless, before leaving for ESPN. Sharpe wasn't happy with Bayless when he left.

"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," Sharpe said on "The Stephen A. Smith Show."

"I considered Skip a friend. For you to take that kind of personal shot at me, it really hurt me."

Sharpe, a Hall of Fame tight end, now stars at ESPN, alongside Stephen A. Smith on "First Take."

Bayless and Taylor have yet to address being named in the lawsuit.