A new deep-dive from Sports Illustrated shows a pattern of bizarre, bad behavior from now-former Raider Antonio Brown. The allegations include an instance of approaching a woman artist he’d hired, wearing nothing but a small towel covering his groin area.
The unnamed painter said that Brown had liked a portrait she painted of him for charity, so he paid her a $1,000 daily fee to travel from New York City to his suburban Pittsburgh home to paint a mural.
Brown flirted with the artist, SI’s Robert Klemko reported, on her first day in town, but she’s dealt with similar behavior in the workplace before. On the second day as she worked on the mural, though, the situation escalated.
“I was about 40% done on the second day, and I’m on my knees painting the bottom,” she told Klemko, “and he walks up to me butt-ass naked, with a hand cloth covering his [penis] and starts having a conversation with me.”
She played it off and kept working, but her lack of desire to engage apparently earned Brown’s ire, as he told her the next day he was heading to Miami, and the communication from Brown and his team became much icier.
The woman received the expected $2,000 from Brown for her two days of work, though, with him gone, she never finished the mural, and she left another piece she’d hoped to promote in his home. Brown broke off communication and never paid the agreed-upon $700 for the initial portrait he’d agreed to buy, the woman said.
Klemko’s full story is illuminating and certainly worth the time to read. It highlights a broader pattern of behavior that includes more allegations of violence against women and refusals to pay.
The piece comes on the same day a woman suing Brown, accusing him of raping her, is set to speak to the NFL as the league weighs discipline against him.
The Raiders released Brown, acquired in March from the Steelers, last Saturday after his training-camp sideshow became too much for them. The Patriots signed him to a one-year deal, and he made his on-field debut for them Sunday.
The NFL will undoubtedly face public pressure to ensure his second game with New England will not come next week.
