At the start of this year’s NFL season, fans were entranced by popular wide receiver Antonio Brown’s disputes with his contracted team, the Oakland Raiders. The drama came to a head during Week One of the season, when the Raiders dropped Brown and he was immediately picked up by the New England Patriots.
However, the trouble did not end there for Brown. A lawsuit was filed against the 31-year-old just one day after he signed his contract with the Patriots. The lawsuit claims that Brown sexually assaulted a 28-year-old woman named Britney Taylor, his former trainer, on three separate occasions in 2017 and 2018. On the last occasion, the lawsuit states that Taylor was raped.
Courtesy: New York Post
Brown’s lawyer released a statement soon after the lawsuit was made public, stating that he denies all allegations made in the lawsuit, claiming her motivation for the lawsuit was strictly monetary. Brown later refused to settle the suit for $2,000,000. The NFL announced they were launching their own investigation into the allegations and reportedly met with Taylor for 10 hours on Sep. 16. The Patriots released the following statement on Sep. 10:
Courtesy: Twitter
An article published on Sports Illustrated the morning of Sep. 16 included another account of sexual misconduct by Brown from a second woman. According to the account, a woman was hired by Brown to paint a mural of him on his wall. On her second day of work, she turned around while painting to find Brown standing behind her, naked, with a small towel covering his genitals. After the incident, Brown paid her for her two days of work and ignored all contact she attempted to make. She does not plan to press charges or seek compensation of any kind at this time.
On the same day the story was published, lawyer Darren Heitner made the following statement on behalf of Brown on Twitter:
Courtesy: Twitter
This is far from being the first time the NFL has dealt with an accusation of this kind against a player. In a 2015 article, Vice reported that 44 NFL players have been accused of sexual or physical assault. Included on this list is former FSU quarterback Jameis Winston, who was famously accused of rape in 2013. The case found national attention for being mishandled and was not settled until 2016. Winston now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
With the large number of players that have been accused of such crimes, many have called upon the NFL to hold them more accountable and dole out harsher punishments for those who have been found guilty. However, others argue that many of their accusers are just looking for fame or money to be gained from such high-profile cases.
On Sep. 20, the Patriots held a press conference in which head coach Bill Belichick briefly discussed Antonio Brown, then stormed out after being asked repeated questions about the situation. Shortly after, the Patriots released a statement announcing they were letting Brown go from the team, stating “The New England Patriots are releasing Antonio Brown. We appreciate the hard work of many people over the past 11 days, but we feel that it is best to move in a different direction at this time.” Brown only played in one game with the team.
Courtesy: Twitter
In a statement released by her lawyer, Taylor said, “As a rape victim of Antonio Brown, deciding to speak out has been an incredibly difficult decision. I have found strength in my faith, my family, and from the accounts of other survivors of sexual assault.”
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