NEW ORLEANS ( Matt Niskanen Jersey AP) Lawyers for retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to revive a defamation lawsuit Favre filed against a fellow Pro Football Hall of Fame member, former tight end Shannon Sharpe, amid the backdrop of a Mi si sippi welfare scandal that is one of the state's largest public corruption cases.A federal judge in Mi si sippi , saying Sharpe used constitutionally protected speech on a sports broadcast when he criticized Favres connection to the .Favre's lawyer, Amit Vora, told three 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges in New Orleans that the lawsuit should be revived, arguing that Sharpe accused Favre, who has not been charged with a crime, of theft.Sharpe said during a September 2022 broadcast of the Fox Sports show Skip and Shannon: Undisputed that Favre was taking from the underserved, that he stole money from people that really needed that money and that someone would have to be a sorry person to steal from the lowest of the low. NHL Washington Capitals Jersey ADVERTISEMENT Thats actionable defamation, because that reasonable listener is taking the word steal literally and not figuratively, Vora said.Sharpe's attorney, Joseph Terry, told the judges that Sharpe's remarks were clearly an opinion offered when he was asked about a news report on the Mi si sippi welfare scandal and how the reports will affect Favre's legacy. If you read his comments in context, its quite clear that he was expre sing his opinions rhetorically, Terry said.The panel gave no indication when it would rule.Mi si sippi State Auditor Shad White has said that from 2016 to 2019, the Mi si Rod Langway Jersey sippi Department of Human Services mi spent more than from the Temporary A sistance for Needy Families program funds intended to help some of the poorest people in the U.S.Among White's findings was that Favre improperly received in speaking fees from a nonprofit organization that spent TANF money with approval from the Department of Human Services. The money was to go toward a $5 million volleyball arena at The University of Southern Mi si sippi, which he attended and where his daughter was playing the sport. Favre has paid back $1.1 million, but White said in a February court filing that the former quarterback Lucas Johansen Jersey still owes $729,790 because in the original amount he owed.Favre, who lives in Mi si sippi, has denied wrongdoing and is not facing criminal charges. He is among more than three dozen people or companies being sued by the state Department of Human Services.U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett's October ruling said Sharpe's remarks about the case were constitutionally protected rhetorical hyperbole.Here, no reasonable person listening to the Broadcast would think that Favre actually went into the homes Alex Ovechkin Jersey of poor people and took their money that he committed the crime of theft/larceny against any particular poor person in Mi si sippi, Starrett wrote.___A sociated Pre s writer Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mi si sippi, contributed to this report.