Former ESPN Analyst & ‘RHOBH’ Husband Marcellus Wiley Accused Of Sexual Assault & Rape While At Columbia In 1994

Armando Tinoco
·2 min read
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Marcellus Wiley, a former NFL star and ex-ESPN analyst, has been accused of raping a fellow Columbia University student back in 1994.

The lawsuit filed on Tuesday by an unnamed accuser (read it here) alleges that while Wiley was a sophomore at the private Ivy League school and a running back for the school’s football team, he “sexually assaulted plaintiff, raping her multiple times in her dorm room.”

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“[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,” reads the lawsuit.

The filing states that the victim sought authorities at the university to report the rape but “administrators expressed fondness” for Wiley and doubted her claims suggesting that “the event was a misunderstanding.”

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In the claim, Residential Dean Kathleen McDermott allegedly told the victim that Wiley did not rape her because she “was not from America and had therefore misinterpreted defendant’s conduct because ‘people from different cultures interpret things differently.'”

However, Columbia administrators assured the victim that they would discipline Wiley but not expel him. The university would place Wiley on “academic probation” citing “poor grades” and not sexual assault. Over the coming months, other reports surfaced of Wiley assaulting other students but nothing came of it.

The victim also names Columbia University in the suit for their “callous, negligent, reckless and deceptive response to, and handling of, plaintiff’s and other students’ allegations was an unconscionable revictimization of plaintiff, which caused psychological injuries, financial and academic damages.”

After graduating from Columbia in 1997, Wiley would go on to play for the NFL for teams like the Buffalo Bills, San Diego Chargers, Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars. He was also an ESPN analyst on SportsNation. Wiley will be featured in the current season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airing now on Bravo as his wife Annemarie Wiley joins the show as a full-time housewife.

The lawsuit was filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which provided a one-year window for sexual assault plaintiffs to file civil claims, regardless of the statute of limitations. The window closes on Thursday.

(L-R) Annemarie Wiley and Marcellus Wiley
(L-R) Annemarie Wiley and Marcellus Wiley

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