Brett Favre is asking an appeals court to reinstate his defamation lawsuit against Shannon Sharpe

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — 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's 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.”