The sexual assault accusations against Antonio Brown didn't stop the NFL wide receiver from making his debut with the New England Patriots Sunday—but they did apparently cost him his Nike sponsorship. "Antonio Brown is not a Nike athlete," a rep for the company says in an email to USA Today, offering no further explanation. Brown had last year called his deal with Nike "huge," and in February, Nike debuted the "Nike Tech Trainer Antonio Brown." But the $100 shoe has since been pulled from the Nike website. Britney Taylor filed her lawsuit, which accuses Brown of sexual assault on three occasions, the day after he signed to the Patriots. Brown's lawyer has denied the accusations and says a countersuit will be filed. As the NFL continues its own probe into the accusations, Brown is expected to play in Sunday's Patriots-Jets game.
Even before Taylor's lawsuit, Brown had been having a stormy month; after a spat with the Raiders' general manager, Brown asked to be released and was ultimately cut from the Oakland team. That's when he headed to the Patriots. And in a deep dive this week into Brown's history, Sports Illustrated reveals that a doctor who once took Brown on as a client filed a lawsuit against him earlier this month, claiming Brown didn't pay his bills and owes $11,500. The doctor also claims in the article that Brown "farted in his face" multiple times during one of the visits, a story that actually first surfaced last year on TMZ, and Complex notes that on Instagram, Brown posted a screenshot showing him and the doctor texting back and forth jokingly about the TMZ article last year. The Los Angeles Times reports Brown has also been dropped by helmet maker Xenith. (More Antonio Brown stories.)
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