The New England Patriots released wide receiver Antonio Brown, the team announced Friday. Brown played one game with the team, and was on the roster for two weeks.
“We appreciate the hard work of many people over the past 11 days, but we feel that it is best to move in a different direction at this time,” the Patriots said in a statement.
Brown is facing allegations of sexual assault and rape in a civil lawsuit. His accuser, former trainer Brittney Taylor, described three separate incidents from 2017 and 2018.
A separate accuser said that Brown sexually harassed her, though elected not to take and legal or civil action from the incident. She did, however, come forward for a story by Sports Illustrated to describe the situation. While the artist was at Brown’s house to paint a mural, Brown approached her wearing nothing but a towel over his genitals. Following the publication of that story, Brown sent intimidating text messages to his accuser, according to SI.
Bill Belichick addressed the allegations and accusations against Brown during a press conference on Friday, but the coach said he would not answer questions about Brown. When Belichick faced seven questions in a row about Brown, he left the press conference early. Tom Brady, too, evaded questions about Brown on Friday. Instead Brady said he was “focused on the Jets.”
Brown posted a series of tweets to thank the Patriots for his short stint in New England.
