Former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Antonio Brown reportedly took out a gun and threatened his own players during his short-lived tenure as the owner of the short-lived Albany Empire of the National Arena League.
Brown became a member of the ownership group of the Albany Empire in 2021, shortly after his dramatic exit from the NFL. The drama, however, would continue during Brown’s time with the Empire’s ownership group. While most of that drama involved unpaid coaching salaries and hotel bills, according to ESPN’s Anthony Olivieri and Michael A. Fletcher, one of those dramatic incidents involved a gun.
Antonio Brown, #81 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, warms up before the game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on January 02, 2022, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Elsa/Getty Images)
According to the report, Albany Empire players asked the team to post a social media tribute to Mo Ruffns, a former team member who had passed away the previous year. The team complied with the request and posted the tribute but later removed it. The players approached the front office to figure out why the post had been removed but did not get an answer.
According to the report, the players decided to ask Brown about the post’s removal at an Albany cigar lounge.
That discussion apparently turned heated and allegedly resulted in Brown telling one of his assistants to get a gun.
“AB looked at Ryan [Larkin] and was like, ‘Hey, man, you still got the AR in the car? Go get it,’” Empire wide receiver Darius Prince told ESPN. “Then I was like, I’m not going to allow this dude to walk out of here after you just threatened us… After he said that, things did calm down, and we had a conversation. But the fact is that he threatened us by telling his assistant to grab his AR.”
Shortly after this alleged incident, the National Arena League booted the Albany Empire due to unpaid dues. Since Brown ran off an NFL field for the last time, literally, he has tried his hand at managing Kanye West’s talent agency, rapping, and becoming a football team owner.
Professional football player Antonio Brown performs with GloUpJake at the Summer Smash Festival at Douglass Park on June 19, 2022, in Chicago, Illinois. (Barry Brecheisen/WireImage)
At this time, it appears that Brown is only a rapper.