Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown holding off on paying his personal chef will come with a cost.
Chef Steven Ruiz, who cooked for Brown, said he will file a lawsuit against the wideout according to TMZ Sports on Saturday, Dec. 4. Ruiz claims that Brown owes $10,000 and already addressed it with Brown’s attorney.
“The game plan now is to file a lawsuit and take it from there,” Ruiz told TMZ Sports. “People provide a service and you’ve got to pay for it. That’s it.”
Ruiz originally made headlines by reporting to the NFL about Brown’s fake COVID-19 vaccine card. It led to three-game suspension by the league and $161,764 in lost pay and $158,823 in bonuses according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.
“I knew the card was fake already because he had already mentioned to me that he had gotten it. He had purchased it, and that’s when he made the call to come take a picture and submit it to the Bucs, and that was it. He didn’t have to worry about it any more.”
Faking vaccine cards has become a crime in the U.S. according to the FBI’s public service announcement in March 2021. Ruiz claims he didn’t expect the NFL to do anything about Brown’s case after reporting it.
“Honestly, I was surprised the NFL even conducted an investigation after the story broke out about the fake vaccination cards,” Ruiz told TMZ Sports. “It took a little bit for them to follow up. I wasn’t really thinking that they were going to call me or even reach out.”
Ruiz added he and Brown considered each other friends, but admitted not getting paid became a deal breaker in their business relationship. It’s not the first time someone claimed Brown didn’t pay for a service either.
“If he had just probably paid me, you know what? He probably would still be getting paid in the NFL right now,” Ruiz told TMZ Sports. “He’d probably be playing the games that he could be playing and none of this would have even happened.”
Major Incentives in Peril for Brown
Brown also could miss more than $1 million in performance incentives from his contract for receptions, yards, and touchdowns according to Florio.
When Brown re-signed with the Bucs in May 2021, his contract included $333,333 in incentives for each statistical milestone. Brown would earn it when he hit 50 and 70 receptions, 600 and 800 yards receiving, and his fifth and seventh touchdown.
As Florio pointed out, Brown only has 29 receptions, 418 yards, and four touchdowns. Brown only played five games this season due to an ankle injury on Oct. 14 and missing a Sept. 26 game due to COVID. The Bucs will only have three games left if Brown returns on schedule for a Week 16 game against Carolina on Dec. 26.
Foggy Future for Brown With Bucs
Bucs head coach Bruce Arians cast more uncertainty about that when he talked to the media on Friday, Dec. 3, about the team’s two suspended players due to fake vaccine cards.
Safety Mike Edwards also got suspended with Brown by the NFL on Thursday, Dec. 2. Edwards also had a productive season going with three interceptions and a forced fumble.
“We’ll address their future at that time,” Arians said on Friday, December 3. “Other than that, there’s really nothing to say.”
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Bucs’ Antonio Brown Gets in More Hot Water off the Field