Former NFL star Antonio Brown hit the campaign trail for former President Trump Saturday in PIttsburgh.
Brown spent the majority of his career in Pittsburgh as a star for the Steelers, before a controversial exit from the team. He returned to the city to a cheering crowd as he “looks to make a positive difference.”
The former All-Pro wide receiver took the stage at a rally to deliver a speech on behalf of Trump, while mocking Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
“Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, did you really know they want to put tampons in the boys’ bathroom?” Brown asked the crowd. “That’s really insane, right?”
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Walz, the governor of Minnesota since 2019, earned the nickname “Tampon Tim” from Republican opponents in 2023 after Walz signed a Minnesota law that mandates tampons be provided free of charge in public schools “to all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students in grades 4 to 12,” including male students.
The Harris-Walz campaign has also made an effort to tie Walz’s stint as an assistant coach of the Mankato West High School football team in Minnesota in the 1990s to his candidacy. During Walz’s tenure as an assistant on the staff, the team won a state championship in 1999.
But Brown showed no respect for the former assistant’s short coaching career during his speech Saturday.
“And, by the way, Tampon Tim Walz, he isn’t a real football coach. He could never guard me,” Brown said. “Business will be booming going against Tampon Tim Walz.”
Brown even brought to the stage former Steelers teammate Le’Veon Bell, who showed his support for Trump with a T-shirt.
Former Pittsburgh Steelers players Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell leave the stage after Brown spoke in support of former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, during a campaign rally Oct. 19, 2024, in Latrobe, Pa. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Brown, a seven-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion, played the first nine years of his career in Pittsburgh, before a feud with former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger resulted in him being traded to the Raiders in 2019. During Saturday’s speech, Brown gave a shoutout to Roethlisberger, saying he was still his “favorite quarterback.”
Brown was out of the NFL for most of 2019 and the start of the 2020 season after a string of controversies in 2019, including allegations of sexual assault. But Brown returned to join Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, helping the Buccaneers win the 2021 Super Bowl during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brown’s career with Tampa Bay ended after he threw his equipment into the crowd during a game against the New York Jets in Week 17 of the 2021 season. He hasn’t played in the NFL since.
Multiple arrest warrants have been issued since then for Brown, who has devoted his time to controversial social media activity and forming his own unofficial brand he calls “CTESPN,” which he says is meant to explore the traumas that athletes have been through. Brown has suggested he has chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), due to repeated brain injuries from football, and that his erratic behavior is a result of the disease.
FORMER NFL STAR AND TRUMP SUPPORTER ANTONIO BROWN JOINS VOTER-REGISTRATION EFFORT IN KEY SWING STATE
Former professional boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. sits with former NFL player Antonio Brown during the second half between the Miami Heat and the Brooklyn Nets in Miami, Fla., March 26, 2022. (Jasen Vinlove/USA Today Sports)
CTE is a degenerative brain disease that can develop after repeated concussions or other traumatic brain injuries. The disease can cause behavioral and mood problems and difficulty thinking and can also lead to dementia. However, CTE can only be diagnosed with a brain autopsy after someone has died.
Many of Brown’s fans live in western Pennsylvania and could cast critical votes in November.
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Brown has been a vocal supporter of former President Trump throughout the current election cycle. The former football star said in May he would endorse Trump during an interview with OutKick’s Nick Adams, praising the former president’s background and contributions to figures in the hip-hop industry.
“I’ve never met him. I’ve got admiration for his business moves, and I study his dad, Fred Trump. But I think Donald Trump is a good businessman and come[s] from a good family and has been a good president,” Brown said. “I think he does some great things for my brothers in the music industry in regards to Lil Wayne, Kodak [Black].”
Brown has frequently expressed his support for Trump through memes and more straightforward political messaging on his social media platforms.
After the assassination attempt on Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, Brown commended the former president for his resilience.
“Cue up Many Men by 50 and we gonna win the presidency in a landslide F—ing Legend of the Decade,” Brown wrote on X.
Former Pittsburgh Steelers players Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell leave the stage after Brown spoke in support of former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, during a campaign rally Oct. 19, 2024, in Latrobe, Pa. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Brown announced he would be joining the voter registration effort in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, Oct. 4. He has ramped up his pro-Trump messaging on social media since then and has even met with Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, and Donald Trump Jr.
A new Fox News survey of Pennsylvania voters finds Harris narrowly ahead of Trump by two points (50-48%) among registered voters, while the race is tied at 49% each among likely voters.
Trump’s most loyal followers include men, Whites without a college degree, independents and rural voters. He has nearly doubled his lead among men and the small group of independents since July.
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