Having cast this year as a celebration of its history, the National Football League has instead seen its 100th season commandeered by the antics and alleged transgressions of star wide receiver Antonio Brown, who in the past week upended the league’s player empowerment paradigm and embroiled the NFL in another firestorm regarding violence against women.
Tuesday night, a former college classmate and trainer of Brown’s accused him of rape and sexual assault in a federal lawsuit, alleging three separate instances from 2017 to 2018. Through his attorney, Brown denied the claims and called the woman’s lawsuit “a money grab.