Former ESPN and Fox Sports host Marcellus Wiley is facing new sexual assault allegations from four accusers, including one former ESPN production assistant.
The new allegations were filed in court last month and recently obtained by Awful Announcing. The four new accusers join three other women who previously sued Wiley, the first of whom came forward in 2023, alleging that he raped them while he was a football player at Columbia University in 1994. Wiley responded to the initial suit on his YouTube show, calling the claims “B.S.” A 2024 court filing by Wiley’s then lawyer also denied the allegations.
Rolling Stone first reported on the new allegations.
Among the four new accusers is a former ESPN production assistant who alleges Wiley initiated a scheme that led the alleged victim to Wiley’s hotel room under the guise of a work meeting while the two were coworkers in 2009.
Content warning: The following includes a graphic account depicting sexual assault.
The former ESPN employee writes in her account to the court, “When we went to his room, Wiley excused himself to use the bathroom. He emerged from the bathroom naked. He pushed me up against the windows of the room so hard I thought they would shatter. I was petrified and believed I was going to be killed.”
She continued, “I repeatedly pleaded with him to stop and to let me go. He would not. He pushed me face down on the bed and kept me there with my face pressed into the mattress in such a way that I had difficulty breathing, which made me fear for my life. Wiley held me down and masturbated over me until he ejaculated. Only then did he allow me to leave the room.”
“This assault was devastating to me and I live with the affects to this day. I will never truly escape from that room,” the former ESPN employee wrote.
Another accuser also offers a deeply disturbing claim, alleging that she was 13 years old when Wiley first approached her. She alleges Wiley targeted her after visiting her middle school in Buffalo, NY, when he was playing for the Bills. Wiley then allegedly “showered her family with free game tickets and invitations to his Orchard Park, NY, home,” and “frequently mentioned his sociology degree from Columbia University, which led [the alleged victim] to believe he was respected and trustworthy.” Then, on her 18th birthday, the victim claims she was flown to Dallas, where Wiley was playing for the Cowboys, where he then “shouted at her in a frightening manner and coerced her into sex.”
“Marcellus Wiley raped me on my 18th birthday, after grooming me from the age of 13,” the alleged victim wrote.
Wiley has been out of mainstream sports media for about four years now after leaving Fox Sports in 2022. Since then, he has operated his YouTube channel, which has over 500,000 subscribers. He has remained active on the channel in recent days despite the new accusations.
ESPN declined comment when reached about the recent developments.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.