'Don't read my book,' says Brett Favre biographer after Mississippi revelations

Favre is accused of being involved in a multi-million dollar welfare fraud scheme.

Former Packers and Vikings quarterback Brett Favre is in the spotlight amid revelations from an ongoing legal case in his native Mississippi that links him and former Gov. Phil Bryant to a welfare scandal.

Favre is accused of being involved in an effort to funnel money earmarked for people in poverty to a fund geared towards building a new volleyball arena at the University of Southern Mississippi, where his daughter was on the team. 

On Tuesday, disclosures in a civil case revealed text messages involving Favre, Bryant, and nonprofit founder Nancy New in which Bryant advised how Favre could get his funding proposal accepted, while Favre expresses concern about the media finding out where the money is coming from.

The FBI is investigating the case, and while Favre and his attorney are denying the allegations, Jeff Pearlman, who authored "Gunslinger: The Remarkable, Improbable, Iconic Life of Brett Favre," is begging people to avoid buying his book and even renting it from a library. 

"On the day of extended Favre revelations, I wanna share something: I wrote a biography of the man that was largely glowing. Football heroics, overcoming obstacles, practical joker, etc. Yes, it included his grossness, addictions, treatment of women. But it was fairly positive," Pearlman said in a Twitter thread. 

"And, looking at it now, if I'm being brutally honest—I'd advise people not to read it. He's a bad guy. He doesn't deserve the icon treatment. He doesn't deserve acclaim. Image rehabilitation. Warm stories of grid glory. His treatment of [Jennifer Sterger] was ... inexcusable."

Pearlman said "don't buy the book, don't take it out from the library."

"I prefer crumbs like Brett Favre shuffle off into the abyss, shamed by greed and selfishness," he continued, calling the allegations "grotesque" and "monstrous."

According to Mississippi Today's Anna Wolfe, Favre, Bryant and others helped navigate a scheme that channeled "at least $5 million" of Mississippi's welfare funds to build a new volleyball arena. It was the largest single use of money from the "at least $77 million" in welfare funds that were rerouted from the needy. 

Filings released Tuesday as part of a civil lawsuit into the welfare scandal show text messages between Favre, then Gov. Bryant and New – who has pleaded guilty to 13 felonies related to the scheme. In one text exchange from Favre to New, Favre writes: "If you were to pay me is there anyway the media can find out where it came from and how much?"

Another text exchange shows Bryant encouraging New to help Favre with "his project."

Favre is an alum of Southern Mississippi (1987 to 1990), as is his daughter, Breliegh, who played volleyball for the Golden Eagles. She played indoors in 2017 and 2018 before moving to sand volleyball in 2019. She's now a graduate transfer at LSU.  

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