PAL cuts ties with AB, returns donation after ‘rift’
Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman react to Antonio Brown posting a video on social media showing a confrontation he had with police. (2:06)
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — The Hollywood (Florida) Police Department announced that its athletic league has severed ties with wide receiver Antonio Brown and returned a donation given by Brown following an obscene outburst toward the police and the mother of his children on Monday.
Brown posted a live feed of the encounter, which also included his children, on Instagram, and it was later picked up by TMZ. In it, he can be heard using explicit language and calling the police officers explicit names.
The Hollywood Police Department released a statement following the video announcing the Police Athletic League’s separation from Brown. According to the department, recent events that have necessitated police intervention have caused an “irreparable rift” between the department, the Police Athletic League and Brown.
“We made the decision to sever ties between Mr. Brown and the Hollywood Police Athletic League,” public information officer Christian Lata wrote in the statement. “We did not want our youth to be subject to this type of behavior nor emulate the actions of Mr. Brown.”
The police responded to a domestic disturbance at Brown’s Hollywood residence on Monday, and Lata wrote in the department’s statement that Brown used “very degrading language in front of his young children.”
Brown previously donated to the athletic league’s 7-on-7 football league, but the police department said it returned that donation on Jan. 9.
“We will not take money from a donor that we cannot have our youth be proud of or represent our organization,” Lata wrote.
Brown was also given a trespass warning for the Police Athletic League property because the department “did not want him to continue to affect our youth nor influence them in a negative way.”
Brown responded to the department’s statement on Twitter.
Hollywood police and I need a meeting unless I’m going to show their track record of my injustice consistently
Brown wasn’t on an active roster for most of the 2019 season. He was released from the Oakland Raiders after the preseason following public demands. He was active for one game with the New England Patriots but was released shortly after amid sexual assault allegations. The former Pittsburgh Steelers star recently had a workout with the New Orleans Saints, which he later called a publicity stunt on social media.