PITTSBURGH -- Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown has apologized for threatening an ESPN reporter on Twitter over a story about the playmaker.
A team spokesman delivered an apology to ESPN senior writer Jesse Washington on Brown's behalf, and Brown issued a statement to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Wednesday.
Washington, a senior writer for ESPN's The Undefeated, published a story last week titled, "Antonio Brown is an Instagram All-Pro. But is that the full picture?" On Friday, the day the story ran, Brown tweeted directly to Washington, "wait to I see you bro we gone see what your jaw like." Brown eventually deleted the tweet, but not before it had been circulated online.
"I made a mistake in judgment with my tweet last week, and I apologize for that," the statement to the Post-Gazette said. "It is not OK to threaten anyone, and I need to be better spiritually and professionally. Though I do not agree with the negative parts of the story about my personal life, I need to have better control over my actions to use social media as a way to engage with my fans, rather than use it improperly."
These are not Brown's first incendiary remarks toward a reporter this season. In August, Brown called veteran Post-Gazette reporter Ed Bouchette a "clown" on Twitter for Bouchette's observational tweet that Brown was limping off the practice field in training camp.
Asked about the matter at his news conference Tuesday, coach Mike Tomlin said he didn't want to address "social media things."
"You know, we could talk all day about things that are online or on the internet or on social media," Tomlin said. "I just choose to stay away from it because it's a waste of my time. There's very little accountability, there's very little journalistic integrity, etc. Guys say things they don't mean. I talk to my teenagers about it all the time. Let's keep it professional and in the real. I think that's appropriate in this setting."