The Hollywood (Fla.) Police Department is cutting ties with former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown after Monday’s tirade that saw Brown yell obscenities at the police and his children’s mother.
"We made the decision to sever ties between Mr. Brown and the Hollywood Police Athletic League," public information officer Christian Lata wrote in Tuesday’s statement, according to ESPN. "We did not want our youth to be subject to this type of behavior nor emulate the actions of Mr. Brown."
The statement also announced that on Jan. 9 the police department had returned a donation that Brown had made to the Police Athletic League’s 7-on-7 football league. The athletic league is a youth activities program run by Hollywood police officers with the goals of preventing juvenile crime and drug use; providing positive role models for youth; developing discipline, self-esteem and positive moral values through competition; and creating better communications between law enforcement and the youth.
“We will not take money from a donor that we cannot have our youth be proud of or represent our organization,” Lata said of Brown, who was also given a trespass warning for the Police Athletic League property.
Brown posted the most recent altercation on Instagram Live. The video, which can be found on TMZ, showed three of Brown’s children and their mother, Chelsie Kyriss, getting into a police car while Brown stood outside his house in Hollywood.
Brown accused Kyriss of trying to steal a Bentley that was parked in his driveway, using what Lata called “very degrading language in front of his young children.” The police had arrived at Brown’s house to respond to a domestic dispute.
Brown, a former All-Pro wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, responded to the police department’s statement on his Twitter account, saying that his donation had been returned to him and if he didn’t get a meeting with the Hollywood Police he would “show their track record of my injustice.”
The 31-year-old Brown has filmed multiple police altercations. He been out of the league since the New England Patriots released him on Sept. 20 amid sexual assault allegations. Brown had been traded to the Raiders last March, but was released after the preseason, allowing him to be picked up by the Patriots.
