Another day, another negative story centered around New England Patriots’ wide receiver Antonio Brown.
According to Sports Illustrated, the lawyer for a woman who claims sexual misconduct by Brown reached out to the NFL on Thursday night after Brown apparently sent what were being described as “threatening” texts to her client.
According to the report, Sports Illustrated has confirmed that the messages seen above were sent from the same phone number that Brown used to communicate with the artist back in 2017, a number provided to her from Brown’s verified Instagram account.
Brown’s attorney, Darren Heitner, was included in the group chat, but did not respond and says that he did not advise Brown to communicate with the artist.
Furthermore, on Thursday night, Lisa J. Banks, who is a lawyer for the artist, sent a letter to the NFL seeking an end to what she termed conduct by Brown that is “intimidating and threatening to our client, in violation of the NFL Personal Conduct Policy.”
“Our client … is understandably frightened by these text messages, which are clearly intended to threaten and intimidate her,” the lawyer wrote. “While she certainly qualifies as a ‘starving artist,’ she has never approached Mr. Brown, nor will she, about seeking money to compensate her for his sexual misconduct, contrary to his allegations in the text messages.”
The league responded swiftly to the letter, and arranged a phone call between investigators and attorneys for the artists, per the report.
“This sort of intimidation and harassment is the reason victims are often so reluctant to step forward in these cases,” Banks said, according to Sports Illustrated. “We have confidence the NFL and the Patriots will step in and end this behavior.”
Brown was asked, via test, to confirm or deny the allegations of intimidation, to which the number believed to be Brown’s responded: “foh clown.”