None Dare Call It Blackmail

Gabi Zuniga allegedly petitioned Shannon Sharpe to “put a big black baby in me.” Then, not long after that, she accused the Hall of Fame tight end of rape.

What derailed a love story so promising?

The text messages between the fiftysomething-twentysomething couple offer clues. In January, Miss Zuniga, who, according to LarryBrownSports.com, goes by the nom de porno “Karli” on her $12.99-a-month OnlyFans page, allegedly texted Mr. Sharpe: “I know you miss this big juicy a– … $25k for each cheek.”

The next day, they allegedly had sex for the last time. Zuniga subsequently amplified that unfulfilled $50,000 request by 1,000 times. The “big black baby” enthusiast’s lawyer’s recent targets? Puff Daddy, Jay-Z, Deshaun Watson, and Travis Scott. Hmmm. She filed a $50 million civil suit — for some reason she did not go to the police — now accusing Sharpe of raping her in January.

She shares no credible evidence of a January rape. We do know of a January breakup. What did Shakespeare say about a woman scorned?

Sharpe calls this a “blatant set-up”? Apart from repeatedly soliciting the very wealthy Mr. Sharpe to impregnate her, other actions consistent with possibly one day prying large sums of money from the Club Shay Shay podcaster include a series of messages petitioning him to engage in sadomasochistic activities that might, to the uninitiated, look like abuse, i.e., actionable behavior in a civil or criminal court.

“I want you to put a dog collar around my neck and choke me with it,” she allegedly wrote him on Oct. 7, 2023. Sharpe’s attorneys claim she also texted him, “I wanna be abused daddy” and “tie me up and do bad things to me.”

Those are the PG-13 texts. The American Spectator’s Standards & Practices team, comprised of former Hays Code enforcers and New England Watch and Ward Society curmudgeons, do not dare allow the inclusion of the more X-rated material from the texts.

Sharpe, who makes more money as a podcaster than he did as an elite NFL tight end helping Denver and Baltimore win Super Bowls, concedes that he offered Miss Zuniga a $10 million payoff, which seems a sum more than she derives from any of her OnlyFans subscribers. She nevertheless refused. Sharpe refused to pay her larger demand. Now he sees his name and the word “rape” appear in a New York Times headline.

Pros and cons exist in pros paying off con artists. On the one hand, no one wants to reward evildoers. On the other hand, not paying often comes at a greater price than paying. (RELATED: #MeToo Stupid)

Consider the case of Trevor Bauer, 2020 National League Cy Young Award-winner. Lindsey Hill accused him of abuse. It ended his career in Major League Baseball. (RELATED: What Happened to Trevor Bauer Matters. This Can’t Go On.)

His reputation seemed beyond repair. Then we saw her text messages.

“Next victim,” she texted before ever meeting Bauer. “Star pitcher for the dodgers.” She referred repeatedly to his money and a commitment to being a “an absolute WHORE” to get it (an all-caps “absolute WHORE” strikes as more wantonly licentious than your garden-variety “absolute whore”). “Net worth is 51 mil,” she explained to an acquaintance, who responded: “bitch, you better secure the bag.” She recorded herself, smiling glibly next to Bauer in bed as he slept, the day after his sexual assault of her supposedly took place.

Lindsey Hill is not in jail. Trevor Bauer is not in the major leagues. This tells you all you need to know about why young women continue to attempt to extort star athletes and why star athletes so often settle. The mere accusation kills a career.

Sharpe undoubtedly endures an agonizing period of humiliation at the hands of someone he let into his private life, who then publicized it. He can count his blessings that this occurs in a period of healthy skepticism rather than hysteria. Sex workers can still accuse rich men, who have never been accused of sexual misconduct in 56 years, of suddenly transmogrifying into rapists. They just can no longer count on a gullible public buying it.

Headlines call it a rape allegation. None dare call it a blackmail attempt.

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