NFL's Antonio Brown apparently snags six-figure Facebook deal
Maybe this is the reason for the Pittsburgh Steelers' All-Pro taking to Facebook Live in the locker room after team's big win.
Could Pittsburgh Steelers' star Antonio Brown be on Facebook's payroll?
Hmm, I guess we may now know why Pittsburgh Steelers' star Antonio Brown's controversial locker room video was on Facebook Live moments after the Steelers' upset playoff win.
The All-Pro wide receiver has an endorsement deal with the social networking giant that's in the "high six-figures," according to a NFL.com report Sunday.
In case you missed it, Brown was criticized and reportedly fined for posting Steelers' head coach Mike Tomlin's profanity-laced postgame locker room victory speech on Facebook's live-streaming video feature after the team defeated the Kansas City Chiefs on Jan. 15.
Brown later apologized and said he let his "emotions and genuine excitement" get the best of him as he wanted to share the win with fans.
"It was wrong of me to do, against team and NFL policy, and I have apologized to Coach Tomlin and my teammates for my actions," Brown said on his Facebook page and his other social media accounts. "I'm sorry to them for letting it become a distraction and something that they've had to answer questions about while we're preparing for a big game on Sunday."
Turns out he may be getting paid big bucks for it. Facebook declined to comment Sunday about Brown.
Last spring, Facebook said it paid celebrities and mega pitchmen like action star Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson, comedian-actor Kevin Hart and Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, to name a few, to promote Facebook Live when it debuted.
Meanwhile, Brown and his Steelers play Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on Sunday in the AFC Championship game on CBS. (Disclosure: CBS is the parent company of CBSInteractive, the publisher of CNET.) Last week, Brown's actions even triggered a comment from the usually coy Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. What did the admittedly non-social media savvy coach think?
"Yeah, as you know I'm not on SnapFace and all that," he said. "I don't really get those. I'm just really worried about getting our team ready to go. I'm not really too worried about what they put on InstantChat, or whatever it is."
As for Brown, he was mostly ineffective as the Patriots beat the Steelers 36-17 to move on to play the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI.
First published Jan. 22, 1:39 p.m. PT.
Update, Jan. 23 3:40 a.m.: Adds background.