It’s ironic how all the teams that wanted to help Antonio Brown got done dirty by him. But the one team he decides to stay loyal to is Ye’s “Donda” collective, which has seemingly been reduced to just a name after Kanye West lost all of his partnerships and collaborations, even his Donda Sports Academy and school, because of his recent anti-Semitic comments.
The elite athletes on his Donda Management roster such as Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown, and Los Angeles Rams Canton-bound pass rusher Aaron Donald have jumped ship as well. To put it quite frankly, everyone’s distancing themselves from Mr. West except for unpredictable star AB, who has decided to sink or swim with Ye.
In a true showing of solidarity with Kanye West, the “Put that Sh** on” artist released a statement defending Kanye, also stating that he will remain with West’s Donda Sports as president of what remains of the sports brand.
#DONDA pic.twitter.com/IkvsAlEKWU
— AB (@AB84) October 26, 2022
“I remain true to the mission of Donda and our amazing staff and community,” Brown said in a statement on Twitter. “I remain dedicated to helping clarify statements taken out of proportion by the media. I remain committed to bringing new ideas, experiences, and designs to our world. I remain in support of the humanity that is Ye.”
This is an admirable move by AB, who, up to this point in his career has been everything but admirable. But cancel culture is real, and we’re looking at two figures who have been able to do and say what they wanted up to this point without being canceled because of the attention and clout it brought them. And the money their talents made other people.
But this time around, Kanye West played with fire, and he got burned. Everything Ye has said so far was overlooked by social media and peers alike, but he took it too far now, and he’s facing the reality of being at least temporarily “canceled” by a large portion of the world. Antonio Brown, who is already like the cat with nine lives and has used about eight of them, might get burnt on this one just because of association.
We can probably expect to see a lot of brands to move on from Brown as well. His connection to Kanye’s vast entertainment empire is what was keeping him afloat. Business will not be boomin’ and Brown will either be backed into the same corner as West, or he will fold under pressure and distance himself from Ye.
The cancellation of Ye will ultimately lead to Brown’s music career being blackballed. Don’t expect his music to do any crazy numbers. While Brown has been iffy about returning to the NFL, you can count Brown’s endorsement of Kanye West as his impromptu retirement. The seven-time Pro Bowl player is pretty much already blackballed from the NFL because of his own antics.
— AB (@AB84) October 26, 2022
The sad thing about this situation for Brown is that it seemed like he teamed up with Ye because he was losing leverage in his football career and had no major backing in the music industry. He most likely lost a lot of connections when he burned a bunch of bridges and ruined his football career. He didn’t have many routes to take afterward, and Ye seemed to be his knight in shining armor.
Now because of this unwavering loyalty he seems to display for Kanye, he will, unfortunately, go down in ashes with Kanye as well. However, there’s always hope for a Kanye comeback, especially when his music is still being sold on Spotify and other outlets. With Yeezy’s newfound financial freedom, Brown could also potentially be setting himself up for an even bigger payday if Kanye survives this live-time brand assassination and rises like a phoenix.
