Antonio Brown, an All-Pro NFL wide receiver, is one of the most talented of all times on the field. Throughout Brown’s career he has dealt with numerous accusations that disparage his character away from the playing field.
Two days after being released from the Oakland Raiders last month, he signed a one-year, $15 million contract with the New England Patriots.
Britney Taylor, Brown’s former Bible study partner who would later become his personal trainer, filled a lawsuit less than 24 hours after Brown signed the new contract. Taylor accused Brown of raping her on three separate occasions within a two-year period.
“We take these allegations very seriously. Under no circumstances does this organization condone sexual violence or assault. The league has informed us that they will be investigating. We will have no further comment while that investigation takes place,” said the Patriots.
Taylor claims that she had a brother-sister relationship with Brown even though pictures have surfaced with the two in bed together. Taylor has said that after the incident she told her mother, a church member and Brown’s personal chef (at the time).
“As a rape victim of Antonio Brown, deciding to speak out has been an incredibly difficult decision,” Taylor, said after bringing the incident to the public. In Taylor’s lawsuit, it states that she cut off all working relationships with Brown in 2017 after he raped her.
Taylor did not mention that during her first claim of rape in 2017, immediately after Brown signed a contract worth $68 million — making him the highest-paid wide receiver in the league — she asked Brown to sign a contract giving $1.6 million to her business. To make matters worse, after Brown’s legal team reviewed the contract it was brought to light that of the $1.6 million “business” contract, $300,000 would be used to buy property already owned by Taylor and her mother.
It makes no sense that she would only tell people close to her such as a church member and her mother, instead of someone with authority like the police, about a prominent figure raping her. It seems that she needed these people to vouch for her and in return they all would be paid. If Brown had agreed to the contract, Taylor’s mother would benefit. Not to mention that Taylor’s mother, while working as Brown’s chef, got into an altercation with him saying he didn’t pay for the services provided. This gave her even more reason to side with Taylor to receive money out of the deal.
Brown is now a free agent after playing just one game for the Patriots. He now faces nine appeals to regain money that he claims the NFL owes him from his time on the Raiders and his latest team, the Patriots.