Antonio Brown was released from the New England Patriots after being on the team for just 11 days amid sexual assault allegations being brought against against him by Britney Taylor this past week.
The civil lawsuit is the latest in a series of dramatic events taking place in all-pro receiver’s life this summer after fighting with the GM of the Raiders before his release this September.
Following Taylor’s accusation, another woman, who was hired by Brown to do a few paintings for his home, supposedly talked to Sports Illustrated about Brown’s sexual misconduct with her.
To make matters worse, this past Wednesday, the woman told SI that the number Brown had given her in 2017 created a group message chain, which included her as well as Brown’s lawyer Darren Heitner, that had pictures of her children being sent in it, as well as a request to “look up her background info,”.
This is not the first incident Brown has had with the women in his life, however. While living near Pittsburgh during his Steelers career, the police were dispatched to Brown’s home three times I the last four years for domestic disturbance calls. Those associated with Brown accused him of thinking he was “untouchable”.
This brings up the question of whether or not the NFL cared about any of these circumstances and behavioral issues Brown had, or if they were just letting him by until an accusation like this eventually surfaced.
The NFLPA (National Football League Players Association) has moved to file a grievance against the Patriots on Brown’s behalf after not being paid upon his release from the team.
The NFLPA has been known to side for players, as unions often do, in these situations, but have done so in unethical ways.
When Ezekiel Elliot was accused of attacking his then-girlfriend in her car in 2017, the NFLPA attempted to discredit the victim, Tiffany Thompson. The NFLPA allegedly leaked text messages to Yahoo Sports from Thompson to a friend discussing possibly blackmailing Elliot using sex tapes.
While this had nothing to do with the case of domestic violence at hand, the NFLPA tried to question the victim’s motives, which the NFL did not think was appropriate given the severity of the charges. They then released this statement:
Since this statement was made in 2017, the fact remains that the NFL likes to pick and choose when to implement its Personal Conduct Policy.
Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal says that the NFL needs to take domestic violence and sexual assault charges more seriously.
In association with a letter Blumenthal wrote addressed to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, he says “No matter how good the Personal Conduct Policy may be, it is dead letter if it’s unenforced,”.
The NFL is also being called out on not having the same standards of morals for their coaching staff. A USA TODAY investigation showed that several coaches have had backgrounds involving domestic disputes and accusations against them, with no repercussions or media attention to be seen on the subject prior.
So could this case against Brown could either be a chance for the NFL to get it right in regards to how cases should be handled? Or will it be yet another example of a long series of cases mishandled and muddled by the NFL logo.
Calling Out Call-Out Culture 