Marcellus Wiley is accused of sexually assaulting four women, including a former ESPN employee
Former NFL Pro Bowler and former ESPN and Fox Sports anchor Marcellus Wiley is accused of sexual harassment by four people, including a former ESPN production assistant, according to Rolling Stone.
The victims reportedly filed a lawsuit in New York in April, joining three other people who have accused the 51-year-old of raping them in 1994 while studying at Columbia.
The first case appeared in 2023, followed by the last two in 2025.
Wiley called the first lawsuit “BS” in 2023, and his lawyers denied the allegations of rape and/or sexual assault in court in 2024, according to Rolling Stone.
The former allegations are consistent with the latter allegations as the quartet said that Columbia “covered up Wiley’s rape,” thereby “allowing him to enjoy a reputation of safety, respect, and integrity, thereby endangering the women” who met him later, according to Rolling Stone.
The latest allegations range widely.
Two of the accusers reportedly accused Wiley of sexually abusing them from 1995-99 in California, one alleging that Wiley began “grooming me” at age 13 before having sex years later while in the NFL and a former ESPN production assistant alleged that Wiley tricked her into coming to his room under the pretense of a sexual harassment meeting.
A person who says Wiley dated her as a child said their connection began during Wiley’s time with the Bills from 1997-99, according to Rolling Stone, beginning with a middle school visit.
“Wiley drove toward me, slowed down, pulled over. Rolled down the window, called my name, asked me to come over,” Rolling Stone wrote.
The accuser further stated that Wiley gave her his email and eventually free tickets, and an invitation to his residence in Orchard Park, NY.
Wiley allegedly called her “little mommy” and invited her to help clean out his CD collection, according to the report, and often showered her with gifts.
“Wiley often mentioned his sociology degree from Columbia University, which led me to believe he was respected and trustworthy. He gave me the same CDs to clean over and over again,” he reportedly wrote.
“My identity was wrapped up in the belief that I would eventually marry Wiley,” she wrote.
She alleges that Wiley flew her to Dallas – he played for the Cowboys in 2004 – when she was 18 years old, and yelled at her before raping her.
“Marcellus Wiley raped me on my 18th birthday, after grooming me when I was 13,” she said in her statement, according to Rolling Stone.
“If Columbia had followed up on the complaints properly … I would never have been trained and raped.”
The former ESPN employee alleges that Wiley visited her hotel room in 2009 under false pretenses and left the bathroom naked after entering the room before beating her.
“He pushed me into the windows of the room so hard I thought he was going to crash,” she wrote, leaving the store. “I was worried and believed that I was going to be killed.”
The man alleges that Wiley forced him to lie on the bed and masturbated him despite begging him to stop.
“The attack hurt me deeply, and I will live with the consequences to this day,” the woman wrote, according to Rolling Stone.
Two other alleged victims both said Wiley raped them in California in the 1990s.
The first allegation is that Wiley raped her at her mother’s apartment in Culver City, Calif. in the late 1990s, saying she “beat me down and raped me.”
“Afterwards, I felt humiliated and ashamed…so I didn’t tell anyone,” Rolling Stone wrote.
A fourth woman says Wiley raped her at a hotel in 1999 while she was a senior at USC, according to the report, and she also said she told the LAPD and was later contacted by police years ago, though the investigation did not result in any charges.
The new allegations are part of what Rolling Stone described as a “push” by one of the original accusers to turn the lawsuit into a class action against Wiley and Columbia, which will go to trial on May 12.
Attorney Laura Gentile alleges that Columbia was aware of the allegations but simply put her on “academic probation,” according to the report.
“By promoting, protecting, and elevating a sex offender… Columbia University created a false image of Wiley… thus making Wiley more prone to violent rape/assault of women,” wrote Gentile, per Rolling Stone.
Wiley earned All-American honors while playing for Columbia, emerging as one of the best players in program history before becoming a second-round pick with the Bills in 1997.
He played in the NFL from 1997-2006, spending time with the Bills, Chargers, Cowboys and Jaguars.
Wiley eventually joined ESPN in 2007, according to his Fox Sports bio, before moving to FS1 in 2018. He left the network in 2022 and later started hosting his own podcast “More To It”.
He is married to “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Annemarie Wiley.
