Getty Antonio Brown in his last NFL appearance on January 2, 2022 in New York.
Antonio Brown has continued to find ways into NFL headlines without catching a fade or signing on to a new team.
Since his falling out with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January, he’s called out former teammate Tom Brady and past Bucs coaches and has hung out with Kanye West.
But with his latest comments, Brown attacked a past San Francisco 49ers, calling out Colin Kaepernick for his style of play and questioning his charity work.
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‘We Don’t Feel Sorry for You’
Appearing on the May 6 episode of the “Cigar Talk” podcast, Brown had plenty to say about the former quarterback after host Naji dove into the topic of politics intersecting with sports and brought up Kaepernick, who hasn’t played in the league since 2016 after kneeling during the national anthem to call attention to racial injustice and police brutality. Kaepernick, 34, since reached a collusion settlement in 2019 but has continued to work out with the hope of landing on an NFL roster once again.
Brown, however, isn’t buying the notion that the former NFC champion quarterback wants to play.
“But they gave him the money and they gave him a commercial. They gave him the documentary,” Brown said on the podcast. “He took a deal. We don’t feel sorry for you. You took the deal.”
Brown then dropped expletives in his rant about Kaepernick.
“F*** outta here. Oh, Kaepernick. Man, you on f****** Nike, man. F*** outta here,” Brown said.
Brown Questions Kaepernick’s Desire to Play
Brown, 33, wasn’t through going deep on Kaepernick, saying he believed that Kaepernick doesn’t have a real desire to play before commenting on how he did play.
“He don’t wanna play, man,” Brown said. “He was trash, everything.”
He continued to blast the former 49ers quarterback for his decision to accept money from the settlement, which reportedly paid Kaepernick and teammate Eric Reid less than $10 million total.
“Kaepernick did all that and took the money and then got the commercial,” Brown said. “We don’t see Kaepernick outside. Where he at? I ain’t never seen him outside.
“All that’s Kap. We ain’t respecting that, bro,” Brown continued in his rant. “You took the money, the commercials. We don’t see you outside. We don’t see him in the hood. He don’t do nothing. Like, we cool. But, nah, we ain’t even stan Kaepernick.”
He said he felt that Kaepernick wasn’t visible in his community, blasting him for taking the “handout.”
“He not even from the hood. You don’t even been in the trenches,” Brown said. “We like Kaepernick and all, but we ain’t really on that. As Black people, we need to get that clear. … He took the handout, so he got to take the mayor out and, like, take responsibility for that.”
The appearance on “Cigar Talk” was the second media appearance this week in which Brown criticized Kaepernick. He also guested on “ThisIis50” on May 4 to air some similar grievances.
“We think, ‘Oh, Kaepernick treated so bad because they don’t let him play football.’ Yeah, they didn’t let him play football, they gave him commercials. They gave him money,” Brown said. “I’m not trying to tell you what ‘they’ did; I’m telling you the reality of what happened.”
In the only meeting between Brown and Kaepernick, a 43-18 Pittsburgh Steelers romp over the 49ers on September 20, 2015, Brown hauled in nine passes for 195 yards and a touchdown.
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Antonio Brown Rips Former 49ers Star: ‘He Was Trash’