Marcellus Wiley allegations, explained: Former NFL star accused of sexual assault by ESPN employee in latest lawsuit

According to the New York Post, the woman claimed that in November 1994, Wiley "ripped off her clothes and 'forced her facedown onto the mattress,' where he repeatedly raped her, despite her pleas for him to stop," and "the encounter left the victim with lifelong mental struggles, including suicide ideology." The woman also claimed she met other women who had similar experiences with Wiley.

Wiley denied those allegations at the time, calling them "B.S." and saying in a video that “we did not engage in intercourse.” Per the New York Post, he did admit he was “interested” in the alleged victim, recalled that the alleged victim started “talking trash” about him on campus, before alleging that she started rumors to cover the “shame” she felt for cheating on her boyfriend with Wiley. He also refuted claims that he was punished by administrators for the alleged rape by being placed on academic probation and ordered to complete the Spring 1995 semester from his home in Los Angeles, saying he studied remotely because of financial issues and his plans to redshirt.

In a 2024 court filing, his former lawyer also said Wiley “denies the allegations that he sexually assaulted or raped any students of Columbia University," per Rolling Stone.

2025: Two additional lawsuits for alleged rape at Columbia University in 1994

In 2025, two additional lawsuits were filed against Wiley that alleged further sexual assault incidents in 1994 when he was at Columbia.

The two accusers joined the 2023 accuser by claiming Wiley "attacked them in separate incidents in his dorm room in 1994," per the New York Post, with one of them alleging he "barely removed her clothes before the assault." The lawsuit showed that one accuser claimed Wiley "pressured her for sex after she accepted his invite to his dorm room on Oct. 27, 1994." Per the New York Post, the woman said she told Wiley “no repeatedly,” with Wiley telling her she was “too uptight and needed to relax" before he "overpowered" her." That victim also reportedly said she reported the incident to a Columbia University administrator, who allegedly told her if she filed a criminal complaint, she would "be known as the girl who destroyed a black man’s NFL dream.”

The second anonymous accuser in 2025 was allegedly assaulted around a month later in 1994 by Wiley, per the New York Post.”

2026: Four additional allegations, including from ESPN production assistant

On Apr. 29, Rolling Stone reported that court filings showed that Wiley was named in sexual assault allegations from four new accusers.

Per Rolling Stone, among those accusations was a Jane Doe who claimed she was 13 years old when Wiley first approached her. That woman alleged that Wiley, when he was a member of the Buffalo Bills in the NFL, "targeted her as a minor after a visit to her middle school in Buffalo." He allegedly gave her his email address, "showered her family with free game tickets," "regularly invited her back," often mentioning his sociology degree from Columbia, which led the alleged victim to "believe he was respected and trustworthy."

The woman claimed that on her 18th birthday, Wiley flew her to Dallas, where he was playing for the Cowboys at the time, and "shouted at her in a frightening manner and coerced her into sex," per Rolling Stone.

"Marcellus Wiley raped me on my 18th birthday, after grooming me from the age of 13,” she wrote in her statement, per Rolling Stone. “If Columbia had properly pursued the complaints… I would never have been groomed and raped.”

According to Rolling Stone, the former ESPN production assistant claimed that in 2009, Wiley "lured her to a hotel room in 2009 under the guise of a work meeting," then attacked her and she believed she was "going to be killed." Wiley allegedly "forced her onto a bed and masturbated over her" while the woman repeatedly asked him to stop.

The other 2026 allegations, per Rolling Stone, claimed that Wiley raped two women between 1995 and 1999 in California, with one alleging he "attacked her at her mother’s Culver City apartment while her family was nearby" and the other alleging Wiley "raped her in a hotel in 1999" when she was a senior at USC, which she then reported to the LAPD, but an investigation did not lead to charges.

According to Rolling Stone, the new allegations were filed in New York as part of an attempt from the woman who filed the initial lawsuit against Wiley in 2023 to turn her previously filed case into a class action against Wiley and Columbia University.

Lawyer Laura Gentile alleged that Columbia knew about the allegations against Wiley, but instead only placed him on “academic probation," per Rolling Stone.

“By promoting, protecting, and elevating a sexual predator… Columbia University created a false image of Wiley… thereby enabling Wiley’s vicious propensity to rape/assault women,” Gentile wrote, per Rolling Stone.

A hearing on the request to certify the case as a class action is set for May 12, per Rolling Stone.

Why did Marcellus Wiley leave ESPN?

Wiley was last at ESPN in 2018, when he left his role as a host for various programs for Fox Sports.

He has not held a role as a sportscaster since 2022, when he left Fox Sports. Since then, he has continued running his YouTube channel with over 500,000 subscribers.

After his NFL playing career, which lasted from 1997-2006, Wiley joined ESPN in 2007. He then joined FS1 in 2018, but left in 2022 and began hosting the "More To It" podcast, which he later ended in October 2023.