ESPN Milwaukee station pauses weekly Brett Favre appearances amid welfare scandal

So much is still up in the air as authorities and the media look into Brett Favre's alleged role in the welfare scandal rocking the Green Bay Packers legend's home state of Mississippi, but some of his partners are already beginning to back away.

ESPN Milwaukee, the local ESPN affiliate operated by Good Karma Brands (an interesting name given the circumstances), said it has "paused" Favre's weekly appearances on the station, a spokesperson told Front Office Sports.

Front Office Sports mentions SiriusXM and 33rdTeam as other media outlets with existing deals with Favre, though it notes Favre has not contributed to either of them since Sept. 13.

Favre's public profile receding is just one of the consequences to emerge from a scandal that has progressively gotten worse for the Pro Football Hall of Famer since it first saw daylight in 2020 via the reporting of Mississippi Today.

Some sponsors slowly backing away from Brett Favre

In addition to losing media partners, some of Favre's sponsors have reportedly begun to back away from him.

Hallow, a Catholic prayer and meditation app, and Odyssey Health, a medical technology company, have quietly scrubbed mentions of Favre from their websites, per Front Office Sports. Neither company returned messages from the outlet.

Not everyone is backing away from Favre, though, as Copper Fit, a compression sleeve company, reportedly issued a statement claiming Favre had been cleared of wrongdoing two years ago:

“Copper Fit has worked with Brett Favre for nearly nine years,” Copper Fit said. “He has always acted honorably, and we know him to be a very decent man. To our knowledge, he was cleared of any wrong-doing two years ago. We are confident that will be the case in the civil suit.” 

Brett Favre's welfare scandal isn't going away

When Favre's involvement was first reported, it was treated by many as a weird quirk in a larger story. 

A Hall of Fame NFL quarterback who made more than $100 million during his career took $1 million in welfare money to ostensibly make some speeches and cut some ads. It certainly reflected badly upon Favre, who quickly pledged to repay the money (which he did, minus the interest), but he received plenty benefit of the doubt.

Favre himself pleaded innocence and, at worst, ignorance through it all, claiming he had no idea the money came from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds, a federal program intended to help some of the poorest people in the country.

That veneer of "aw shucks, I made a mistake" was seemingly stripped away earlier this month with the publishing of texts between Favre and some of the alleged (and since convicted) leaders of the reported scheme. The report also demonstrated Favre had allegedly helped divert $5 million more in TANF funds to build a volleyball arena at his alma mater at Southern Miss, where his daughter recently played volleyball.

In particular, it was hard to see how Favre couldn't have known where he was getting his money when he wrote this in 2017:

If you were to pay me is there anyway the media can find out where it came from and how much?

Favre has since been questioned by the FBI over the alleged scheme, and it's unclear what further repercussions he could face. He has so far not been reported to be under criminal investigation, though he still has a civil suit to deal with from the state of Mississippi.

Considering how far this whole story has already spiraled, however, and how many people allegedly involved have struck plea deals, the bottom of this might not be pleasant for Favre.