Shocking Allegations Surface: Former NFL Star and ESPN Host Marcellus Wiley Faces Lawsuit Over Alleged 1994 Rape at Columbia University—Plaintiff Details Harrowing Incident in Freshman Dorm That Changed Her Life Forever

Retired NFL defensive lineman and ESPN host Marcellus Wiley is being sued for allegedly raping a student at Columbia University while he attended the Ivy League school in 1994.

Now an Ivy League professor and sociologist, the alleged victim is suing the 48-year-old Wiley in New York Supreme Court, claiming that he forced himself on her in a freshman dormitory on the Manhattan campus, according to a lawsuit obtained by the New York Post.

The plaintiff, who has not been identified by name, says she lost her virginity as a result of the alleged rape and later attempted suicide.

‘[Wiley’s] actions were intentionally designed to cause plaintiff severe emotional distress or were taken with reckless disregard of the significant and/or substantial probability of causing plaintiff severe emotional distress,’ the lawsuit states.

Wiley has since responded to the accusations in a lengthy video shared to his YouTube channel, calling them a ‘flat out [sic] lie.’

Wiley is reportedly being accused of raping a student at Columbia University back in 1994
Wiley at Columbia in the mid-1990s
Wiley looks on during the San Diego Chargers Mini Camp in 2001

Wiley would go on to be a second-round pick by the Buffalo Bills in 1997, embarking  on a decorated 10-year NFL career. Ultimately the married father of four would go on to become an ESPN and Fox Sports analyst before launching his own podcast. Meanwhile, his wife Annemarie is currently appearing on the thirteenth season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

The plaintiff claims that she and Wiley were friends prior to the fall of 1994, when he invited himself into her dorm room in upper Manhattan saying that he wanted to have dinner together and listen to music.

She says she made it clear to Wiley that she was uninterested in sex because she was a virgin.

Initially, she claims in the lawsuit, Wiley agreed.

‘Ain’t nobody tryna have sex with no virgin!’ he allegedly said. ‘Don’t worry, I got you. Just coming to hang out while I eat. I don’t even have condoms on me.’

However, according to the filing obtained by the Post, Wiley began to rip her clothes off after entering the room and ‘forced her facedown onto the mattress’ before raping her multiple times.

The plaintiff claims she feared for her life and struggled to breathe during the attack.

Annemarie and Marcellus Wiley at the Zodiac Ball held at the Houdini Estate on September 28

The plaintiff says she briefly escaped and nearly fled the room naked before Wiley pulled her back into bed and continued assaulting her.

She later described the attack to a friend before approaching a series of Columbia University administrators, whom the plaintiff claims worked to protect Wiley.

Saying that they had a ‘fondness’ for the budding football star.

Wiley was approached by one administrator about the allegations, but ‘just disagreed that it’s rape,’ according to the lawsuit.

Later, a residential dean, who has since died, accused the plaintiff of misunderstanding the encounter because the student was a foreigner, who came from the Republic of Cabo Verde, an archipelago and island country in the central Atlantic Ocean.

‘[The residential dean] then told plaintiff that, in [her] opinion, defendant had not actually raped plaintiff, because plaintiff was not from America and had therefore misinterpreted defendant’s conduct because ”people from different cultures interpret things differently,”’ reads the lawsuit.

As a consequence, Wiley wasn’t expelled, but was rather placed on academic probation and ultimately completed the Spring semester from his native Los Angeles in 1995.

He returned to campus and the football team in the Fall.

Columbia University is named in the lawsuit, where the school is accused of negligence and reckless failure to protect its students from ‘sexual predators.’

A spokesman for Columbia Athletics declined to comment to Mail Sport at this time.

Partial view of the Columbia University in New York, where Wiley attended from 1993 to 1997

The plaintiff claims that she and a friend both received harassing phone calls following Wiley’s punishment.

Ultimately, she claims in the filing, she attempted suicide.

‘The following spring, while on mandatory leave, plaintiff attempted suicide,’ the filing reads. ‘Plaintiff was admitted to a locked hospital ward for two weeks before being released.’

But she says her anguish was far from over. Upon Wiley’s return to the Manhattan campus, the two were in several classes together.

Later, after when she joined Take Back the Night, which aims to prevent sexual and domestic violence, she encountered other women who claim to have been raped by Wiley.

One accuser says she approached the school’s athletic director, who did not report the allegation until after Wiley played in a game against rival Princeton.

The plaintiff’s lawsuit was filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which allows accusers to circumvent the state’s statute of limitations. Accusers have been permitted to file such lawsuits for the last year, ending on Friday, when the law expires.

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