While “Mississippi Welfare Scandal” sounds like an undesirable sexual position, it is in fact Brett Favre’s current reality as the former Packers QB faces mounting legal pressure. Currently, he has not been charged with anything, but the heat is rising as more details have emerged.
The latest chapter of the saga involves The Athletic and ESPN publishing details about Favre’s Mississippi charity, Favre 4 Hope, and its dealings with the University of Southern Mississippi(Favre’s alma mater). You can read the details of that story here.
The gist of the allegations is being a party to funneling state welfare funds for other use — in this case, a volleyball facility at USM. It’s a horrible look for the former hall of famer and these recently released details only further doom Favre. These come after a state auditor revealed that Favre was paid for speeches he never even gave.
Brett Favre: Will the media find out that we're using welfare funds intended to help the poorest residents of America's poorest state to build a volleyball center?
Nancy New: Nah. Oh yeah, the governor is fully on board!@ayewolfe five years later: https://t.co/rWXHRXISsu pic.twitter.com/wo3QuIYXaY
— Adam Ganucheau (@GanucheauAdam) September 13, 2022
Favre’s response last year:
Of course the money was returned because I would never knowingly take funds meant to help our neighbors in need, but for Shad White to continue to push out this lie that the money was for no-show events is something I cannot stay silent about.
— Brett Favre (@BrettFavre) October 29, 2021
The Onion has taken a shot at the situation with the headline: Brett Favre Makes Amends By Sending Photo Of His Penis To Every Mississippian On Welfare. Using a charity that was supposedly for breast cancer and helping children to illegally divert welfare funds to build a sports facility is not a good look for anyone. The Juice is even blushing at this one, folks.
In Favre’s defense, he didn’t whip out his unit in public, so he has not hit rock bottom just yet — but there’s still plenty of 2022 left.
Investigation into Favre’s involvement is a part of a much larger investigation of the state’s use of welfare funds. Overall, it is shaping up to be the largest welfare fraud case in the state’s history. Mississippi Free Press has full timeline of Favre’s involvement if you wish to learn more details.
ESPN: How Brett Favre is Embroiled in Mississippi’s Largest Welfare Fraud Case
I’ll state the obvious here: Favre’s recent foray into outwardly speaking about his conservative beliefs probably helped fuel the media’s desire to investigate this but the bottom line is that the writing is on the wall and his involvement seems to be well documented. As far as spending time in prison, I very much doubt it. Either way, it’s a very disappointing chapter in an otherwise impressive career and we can all expect for coverage and details to continue to emerge.