Antonio Brown has already said he’s sorry, but it doesn’t count unless the media was there.
Brown offered up a second apology about his Facebook Live video that went viral. He called the video a “distraction” and apologized to his coach and team when speaking to the press on Wednesday as the Pittsburgh Steelers get ready to play New England in the AFC Championship game on Sunday.
Expansive comments from Antonio Brown. pic.twitter.com/TI3y8vDCHM
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) January 18, 2017
“I absolutely regret the Facebook Live situation,” Brown said. “Total distraction. Obviously disrespect to my coach. I’ve got the utmost respect to our coach so I totally regret that.”
Brown said he stood by his original apology—which he made on social media on Tuesday—saying he got “carried away in the moment.”
“We’re not all perfect. I’m human. I’m going to make mistakes, but as a man I own up to those mistakes.”
Brown did make the media wait a bit to get his apology, but he had a good excuse: he was getting a haircut. he was about 40 minutes late for his press conference because he was getting a haircut. The media knew that because, of course, he was posting about it on Snapchat.
See? pic.twitter.com/l9ddlkzcgx
— Sean Gentille (@seangentille) January 18, 2017
Brown had a fresh look for what was a few more cameras than usual because the wideout has been in hot water this week after he broadcasted a Facebook Live video from the Steelers locker room after the team’s win over the Kansas City Chiefs. On that video, you could hear Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin call the Patriots “assholes” and complain about how much less time his team had to prepare for the title game.
“We spotted those assholes a day and a half,” Tomlin said. “They played yesterday. Our game got moved to tonight. We gonna touch down at 4 o’clock in the f*cking morning. So be it. We’ll be ready for that ass. But you ain’t gotta tell them we coming. The chest pounding. Keep a low profile.”
Tomlin had some harsh words for his star wide receiver, especially after Tom Brady had a response of his own for Brown and the Steelers. No one in Pittsburgh wants Brady and the Patriots to have extra motivation on Sunday, and getting called an asshole might make you want to win just a bit more.
More than anything, though, Steelers fans have to hope Brown’s apologies will be enough not to cause a permanent rift between their head coach and star player. Breaking up the band in Pittsburgh over Facebook would be much worse than just losing to the Patriots on Sunday.
