Antonio Brown’s reputation looks more terrible each day.
Not only was Brown — one of the NFL’s most controversial players — accused of sexual assault and rape in a civil lawsuit filed last week, the New England Patriots wide receiver now must answer for a new sexual misconduct allegation that surfaced in a story published Monday by Sports Illustrated.
SI’s bombshell report paints a troubling picture of the former Pittsburgh Steelers superstar who recently signed with the Patriots after being released by the Oakland Raiders. One accusation looks especially problematic when combined with last week’s lawsuit filed by former trainer Britney Taylor.
According to SI’s Robert Klemko, Brown noticed a portrait of himself and its artist — a woman in her late 20s — during an auction at a charity softball game he hosted in June 2017, and he invited her to his home in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh to create a mural on a wall in his home. Brown reportedly agreed to pay $1,000 per day for her work and sent a van to transport her from New York City, along with some of his friends and associates.
The woman, who spoke with SI on the condition of anonymity, explained she initially thought nothing of Brown’s flirtatious behavior upon arriving at his home, but things allegedly took a turn for the worse as the arrangement progressed.
Here’s what Klemko wrote:
On her second day, however, the atmosphere curdled. The artist says at one point she was in a kneeling position while painting and turned to find Brown behind her, naked, holding a small hand towel over his genitals. “He was flirty with me but I paid him no mind because I was there on business, plus, I had already seen him with multiple girls in the short time I was with him,” says the woman. “I was about 40% done on the second day, and I’m on my knees painting the bottom, and he walks up to me butt-ass naked, with a hand cloth covering his [penis] and starts having a conversation with me.” She took it as a clear sexual come-on. “Unfortunately, I’ve been tried [by men] a lot of times, so I just kept my cool and kept painting,” she says. “After that, it all ended abruptly.”
Brown allegedly told the woman the next day he was going to Miami, but they haven’t spoken since, leaving the mural unfinished and another piece of artwork she brought to his home unreturned.
Here’s more from Klemko:
His various assistants, who had been warm to her for two days, no longer answered text messages. Brown paid her $2,000 for her days of work but otherwise “ghosted” her, she says.
The woman is not pursuing charges or remuneration, though she was bothered by his behavior. She said that friends with whom she had shared details of this incident alerted her to the federal lawsuit Taylor filed against Brown last week.
Neither Brown’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, nor his lawyer, Darren Heitner, responded to an emailed list of questions seeking responses to the accusations in the SI story, according to Klemko. But this certainly isn’t a good look for Brown — or the Patriots, for that matter — and it’ll be interesting to see what comes of this damning report moving forward.
UPDATE (3:15 p.m. ET): Brown has denied the allegations.
