Twerking after scoring touchdowns is becoming an expensive habit for Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown.
According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com, Brown said Thursday he was fined for his touchdown celebration in the Sunday night win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
This is the second time this season that Brown has been fined for twerking following a score as he was also docked part of his weekly paycheck for doing a similar twerk following a score during the team’s Week 1 road win over the Washington Redskins.
On Tuesday, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin indicated that he wasn’t overly concerned about Brown’s post-score celebrations but did say that he wanted to get clarification from the league as to what the wide receiver can and cannot do moving forward.
Later Tuesday evening, Dean Blandino, the NFL’s Senior Vice President of Officiating, said during his weekly segment on NFL Total Access that sexual suggestive moves by players are not allowed and that players will continue to be flagged and fined for such actions moving forward. Additionally, he said that in the near future he would be providing more clarity to all NFL teams as to what players are and aren’t allowed to do when it comes to expressive celebrations.
In related news, New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall said Wednesday that if he scores a touchdown against the Steelers on Sunday he plans on twerking in the end zone as an homage to Brown.
“I guarantee if I score, I’m twerking in the end zone,” Marshall said, according to Daniel Popper of the New York Daily News. “That’s what I’m guaranteeing.”
In addition to guaranteeing a twerk Sunday if he scores against the Steelers, Marshall proceeded to give his opinion as to why the NFL should allow players to dance and celebrate in the end zone however they want to.
“Although this is a media business and it’s the entertainment business, and we should do more of that stuff,” Marshall said. “We talk about, we want to grow the business of the NFL and revenues. We see growth from 10 billion to 20 billion (dollars) by the end of 2022.
“We need more of that. We need guys to come out the box. We need Antonio Brown twerking in the end zone. Kids shouldn’t be fined for that. Guys should go out there and wear colorful cleats. That’s our culture right now. This is this new area, this hip-hop and lifestyle era. We’ve got to embrace that. Can’t just put guys in a box.”
Hopefully Marshall doesn’t score Sunday against the Steelers, but if he does, you can probably count on him twerking and subsequently being flagged and fined for it. At least we think that will be the case as Denver Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders wasn’t flagged or fined for his double-pump twerk after he scored a touchdown in his team’s Week 2 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. He later said that was his homage to Brown, his former teammate.
Since this is Brown’s second offense, he will be docked $24,309.
