Brett Favre Sued For Sexual Harassment

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Two team massage therapists—yeah, these two—have sued Favre and the Jets for sexual harassment. The women claim he propositioned them via text message (for a threesome), and weren't re-hired by the Jets after they complained. And here we go.

Good Morning America has the exclusive, and it's pretty much what we expected. Christina Scavo and Shannon O'Toole filed suit in New York State Supreme Court today, claiming that their time working for the Jets in 2008 was filled with aggressive approaches by Favre, who treated them like a "hanging slab of meat."

Text messages they allege were sent from Favre include messages like "Brett here, you and Crissy want to get together, I'm all alone," and "Kinda lonely tonight, I guess I have bad intentions." As we reported in October, Scavo's husband confronted Favre and asked for an apology. Joseph Scavo says Favre refused, and his wife and O'Toole came under fire from the woman in charge of hiring the team's massage therapists.

Lisa Ripi, who we highlighted as "the muscle" in the incident, allegedly told Scavo that the matter should be handled internally, and not taken to the press—or the courts. Ripi is named as a defendant alongside Favre and the Jets.

The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, says that the Jets fostered "a hotbed of sexual harassment, sexism and inappropriate behavior."

Elizabeth Eilender, the attorney for Scavo and O'Toole, has been in contact with most major news organizations since our report was originally published. But the filing of this lawsuit has caught everyone, including us, completely by surprise. It appears that GMA landed the exclusive, with enough time to prepare a written report complete with statements and follow-up questions, to publish simultaneously with the lawsuit. And a package on tomorrow's Good Morning America, of course. It appears they were willing to pay the highest "licensing fee."

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