FOXBOROUGH, MA — The New England Patriots released Antonio Brown Friday. The team announced late in the afternoon it was moving on after the embattled receiver was accused of sexually assaulting two women. Brown sent a barrage of short tweets thanking the Patriots for giving him an opportunity and addressed the sexual assault accusations in vague terms, saying “If I’m lying, I’m flying” and “The marathon continues.”
“We appreciate the hard work of many people over the past 11 days, but we feel that is best to move in a different direction at this time,” the Patriots said in a statement.
Brown played one game in New England, catching a touchdown pass from Tom Brady while the Patriots put the NFL on notice that the Super Bowl favorites got even better. But that would be the entirety of his Patriots career.
The Patriots gave up on the league’s most controversial reclamation project after almost two weeks of daily backlash and damning allegations. The immensely talented Brown was already on thin ice within league circles for his bizarre behavior that led to his release from Oakland when he was accused of raping his former trainer in a lawsuit filed the day after he signed with New England.
The NFL has been investigating those allegations, which were followed by a second woman accusing Brown of sexual misconduct. Sports Illustrated then reported Thursday night Brown had allegedly sent threatening text messages to the second accuser.
Brown’s former trainer Britney Taylor alleged Brown sexually assaulted her on three occasions between June 2017 and May 2018. Brown denied the accusations in a statement released by his attorney, Darren Heitner.
Following that allegation, a second unnamed woman came forward and said that Brown hired her to paint a mural at his Pennsylvania home. She said Brown made advances on her. After refusing advances from Brown, the accuser told Sports Illustrated that as she painted, Brown came up behind her naked. The woman said the incident happened in June 2017 at Brown’s Pennsylvania home.
Brown denied the second accuser’s allegations, but the issue only grew larger Wednesday night.
The unnamed woman told Sports Illustrated she received threatening text messages from Brown after she came forward. The texts were a part of a series of group messages, which included Heitner. She alleged the texts included photos of her and her children.
The woman said she believes the texts were from Brown and that he encouraged others in the group to investigate her. The accuser provided screenshots of the texts to Sports Illustrated.
Heitner said he didn’t advise Brown to communicate with his former painter, but otherwise declined comment. Brown’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, did not respond to SI’s requests for comment.
“Must be really hard times for to make up some stuff for money super sad …” the texts read. “This the girl who unfinished my painting in my room from [name redacted] super broke girl with a lot of kids such a shame.”
The accuser has not pressed charges or sought any monetary damages. Sports illustrated reviewed the texts and verified they were sent from the same number Brown used to communicate with the painter in 2017.
The NFL opened an investigation within an hour of learning about the text messages the accuser said Brown sent. An NFL spokesperson confirmed that the league’s investigation into Brown’s rape and sexual assault allegations will continue, even though he is not on a team, Ben Volin from the Boston Globe reported.
Prior to Brown’s release, reporters peppered Patriots head coach Bill Belichick with questions following the text messages the second accuser said Brown sent. Belichick became fed up about three minutes into the interview and stormed off.
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