Antonio Brown had threatened players on his National Arena League Team, the Albany Empire, with a gun, according to a report by ESPN.
On Friday, the sports news outlet released an article that broke down Brown's controversial tenure as owner of the team, and one particular incident involved the NFL Super Bowl champion threatening to pull out an automatic rifle on his players over a dispute. According to ESPN, Empire players were upset that a tribute post to their late teammate Moqut Ruffins was taken down.
Players tried to get an explanation from the front office but couldn't reach anyone. Empire wide receivers Dwayne Hollis and Darius Prince eventually decided to confront Antonio Brown at a cigar lounge in Albany. The Empire owner was at the lounge with Ryan Larkin, a sneaker entrepreneur Brown hired into the front office.
"People were a little frustrated because these guys were close to [Mo]," Hollis said. "We were there to just talk, to give our views about how that's wrong."
Prince added, "AB looked at Ryan [Larkin] and was like, 'Hey, man, you still got the AR in the car? Go get it.' Then I was like, 'I'm not going to allow this dude to walk out of here after you just threatened us.'... After he said that, things did calm down, and we had a conversation. But the fact is that he threatened us by telling his assistant to grab his AR."
The ex-NFL star's time with the Albany Empire was mostly seen as unsuccessful. He had been accused of threatening Albany Empire's coach, Damon Ware, leading to his departure. Allegations were also made against Brown regarding payment failure and misconduct among the National Arena League players.
Ware took to his social media to announce that coaches and players haven't been paid since April 21—around the time Brown gained official ownership of the team—and that he has left the organization.
