Final week, former NFL star huge receiver Antonio Brown was arrested for failure to pay youngster help, adopted by studies that Brown owes $31,000 to one of many moms of his kids. That seems like a ridiculous sum of money to you and me, however as somebody who has practiced household legislation (together with on behalf of professional athletes), I can let you know that there’s most likely a superb motive a choose ordered him to pay that quantity. Issues like non-public college, daycare, actions, sports activities golf equipment, classes, and journey to and from wherever the professional athlete mum or dad lives, all add up — and courts aren’t within the behavior of giving wads of money to 1 mum or dad simply because the opposite mum or dad is rich. However irrespective of how the courtroom arrived on the quantity of Brown’s youngster help, he was compelled to pay it by courtroom order. Brown made the complete web conscious of his emotions on his obligation to help his kids by posting this gem on Twitter:
Understand that Brown had loads of money to make use of on the Albany Empire, the Enviornment League Soccer workforce he owned (?) earlier in 2023 and, by one account, put almost $2 million into. He additionally provided former Panthers QB Cam Newton $150,000 to play for the Empire through Twitter.
A historical past of alleged abuse
Brown has been chopping a swath of dangerous and generally (alleged) legal habits by means of the NFL for years earlier than the fateful Bucs recreation that spelled the top of his profession, enabled by star gamers like Tom Brady and the league itself. And regardless of the idea of a lot of the web that Brown’s historical past of harming and degrading girls was introduced on by the notorious hit from Vontaze Burfict in 2016, that’s not fairly how mind trauma, or violence in opposition to girls, works. In a 2019 article for Sports activities Illustrated, Robert Klemko detailed Brown’s sordid historical past — together with the police being referred to as to Brown’s house in Pittsburgh for studies of home violence “thrice within the final 4 years,” courting again to 2015. Properly earlier than the Burfict hit.
That very same yr, Brown’s stepfather, who admitted he hadn’t had contact with Brown since 2005, informed USA In the present day that Brown was “very abusive to girls,” and “appears like he can have no matter he needs,” including, “A number of issues that Tony’s doing, nothing surprises me. I’m shocked that it took them this lengthy to determine him out. As a result of he’s been this manner since he’s been 12 years outdated.’’
Given all of the crimes and dangerous deeds Brown has been accused of, it might be stunning that followers are nonetheless twisting themselves into pretzels making an attempt to defend him, till you do not forget that regardless of all their claims of claiming “No Extra” to home abuse, Brown has by no means been disciplined by the league for many of it.
Tom Brady: Believer of girls (not)
Despite the fact that the NFL started their “No Extra” marketing campaign in opposition to home abuse following the discharge of the video of Ray Rice knocking out his spouse, Janay, in 2014, it doesn’t seem Brown was disciplined and even investigated for all these police visits to his house again in Pittsburgh. By 2019, Brown had been traded to the Raiders, then the Patriots. 13 days after arriving in New England, the workforce lower Brown when a former coaching accomplice accused him of sexual assault. Brady, reportedly, wished Brown to stay round. It was proprietor Robert Kraft who insisted on parting methods with Brown.
Brown denied the allegations in a civil lawsuit, which claimed he sexually assaulted faculty pal Britney Taylor on three separate events in 2017 and 2018, and included some harrowing particulars of the alleged assaults. Brown denied the accusations and finally settled the go well with within the spring of 2021. And whereas a supply with data of the state of affairs tells Deadspin that the league interviewed the alleged sufferer for greater than eight hours, the NFL by no means adopted up along with her or made a willpower on self-discipline in that case, which contained way more severe and violent allegations than the case Brown wound up being suspended for. In 2019, Brown was accused of sexual misconduct by one other lady. He allegedly despatched her threatening textual content messages.
Whereas the civil go well with in opposition to Brown was pending in federal courtroom, Brady efficiently urged the Bucs to carry Brown on board in Tampa Bay.
“The fact is that is what Tom Brady wished – for any new workforce he signed with,” NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport stated on the time. Brady was hardly ever, if ever, requested if he had given any thought to the ladies accusing Brown. And Bruce Arians, who was lauded far and huge for having two girls coaches on his employees, received a whole move, regardless of saying Brown would not be with the Bucs if the allegations in opposition to him had been confirmed true in courtroom. Did Arians know that almost all civil instances settle with out an request for forgiveness and even making it to trial? Solely he is aware of. For his or her half, Bucs followers didn’t appear to care about Brown’s historical past, both.
In the meantime, the police in Hollywood, Fla., the place Brown lived, had had sufficient. In response to the Miami Herald, police stated Brown’s growing variety of home incidents that want police intervention has prompted “an irreparable rift between the Police Division…and Mr. Brown.” On one event, Brown taunted the mom of three of his kids with a bag of gummy dicks, which he finally threw at her (in entrance of the police), and continued to taunt and verbally abuse the lady in entrance of their kids, together with telling the cops to “take that fish-looking bitch to jail,” and “Slam her ass! Slam her!”
Twitter, in fact, discovered this hilarious.
Was Brown arrested for disorderly conduct? Tried assault? Harassment? No, the Hollywood police merely discontinued permitting Brown to fund their youth softball league.
And whereas the incident was extremely publicized, there was by no means any point out of the league disciplining Brown over it.
In July of 2020, Brown was lastly suspended by the NFL, for “a number of violations of the NFL’s private conduct coverage.” In response to the NFL, that suspension was based mostly on an investigation into the second allegation of sexual misconduct in opposition to Brown and an arrest related to the assault of the motive force of a shifting firm truck. In 2021, Brown was once more suspended, this time for 3 video games for supplying the league with a faux vaccination card. By mid-January of 2022, Brown was out of the league fully, after refusing to enter a Bucs recreation, ripping off his jersey, and ranting up and down the sidelines.
The allegations in opposition to Brown proceed
In October of 2022, Brown allegedly uncovered himself to a girl in a Dubai resort swimming pool. In December of 2022, police tried to serve Brown with an arrest warrant on home violence prices. In January of 2023, Brown’s Snapchat account was suspended after he posted a pic of him receiving oral intercourse from the mom of his kids.
It’s simple to have a look at Brown and say “he most likely has CTE and that’s why he acts this manner.” Brown himself has attributed his habits to battling CTE. And whereas I’m not going to invest on who does and doesn’t have CTE (which is at present solely recognized through post-mortem) — and whereas we will all agree that head trauma is an actual and current hazard to NFL gamers and impacts their demeanor — it appears telling that Brown’s dangerous habits solely appears to manifest when he’s round girls and people with much less energy than him. In any case, we’ve by no means heard studies of him exposing himself to Brady, or the police being referred to as to a home dispute between Brown and Arians. So far as we all know, no teammates’ wives or girlfriends have accused Brown of sexual assault or misconduct. He didn’t toss a bag of gummy dicks at Invoice Belichick. He was presumably capable of reside at Brady’s house with out incident.
Nevertheless it’s far simpler for followers to have a look at Brown, shake their heads, and speak about how “unhappy” it’s to see him like this. It IS unhappy. For everybody concerned. Nevertheless it’s particularly unhappy for the individuals who Brown has (allegedly) damage, together with his personal kids, who’re the actual victims when a mum or dad refuses to pay youngster help. And it’s simpler not to consider who has enabled this sort of habits by not holding Brown liable for his actions in any significant manner — the NFL and their followers.
Deadspin corresponded briefly with an NFL spokesperson concerning the sexual assault allegations in opposition to Brown, however the league didn’t reply to our query about whether or not if or why Brown was ever disciplined for the sexual assault allegations.
