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TMZSports.com
Stephen Jackson is saying what a lot of people are thinking … he doesn’t understand why Antonio Brown‘s accuser would continue to work with the NFL star after he allegedly sexually assaulted her, TWICE.
“At the end of the day, if you still work with someone that’s been sexually assaulting you, how is that sexual assault?”
Jackson is referring to the timeline in Britney Taylor‘s lawsuit against AB — in which she claims she continued to work with Brown as his personal trainer after he allegedly exposed himself to her on two separate occasions in 2017.
As we previously reported, Taylor says weeks after the first incident, Brown snuck up from behind and masturbated onto her back while she was watching a church service on her iPad.
Despite the alleged incident, Taylor says she continued to work with — and hang out with — Brown until he allegedly forcibly raped her in May 2018. She didn’t file her lawsuit until Sept. 2019.
“I don’t know what’s going on but at the end of the day, I just don’t understand the timing of it,” Jackson told TMZ Sports on his way out of a Viola Lifestyle event in L.A.
“There’s a lot of stuff that’s been going on with AB and she decides to come out with it 3 years later, around the time AB’s going through all this other stuff. Like, it’s kind of tricky.”
“But, at the end of the day, I’m on the side of the athlete until he’s proven guilty. So, shout-out to AB. Ya’ll know how I rock.”
For her part, Taylor says the incidents nearly destroyed her life … but in her lawsuit, she doesn’t specifically explain why she didn’t go to police or come forward with allegations sooner.
Of course, there’s a ton of research about why rape victims don’t come forward right away — from the fear of not being believed to retaliation from the accuser and others.
The New York Times wrote a piece about it in 2018.
Brown has adamantly denied the allegations and says he will fight the case.
Jackson he will “ride with AB” until/if he’s found guilty — but the problem is, Brown isn’t being prosecuted right now. The lawsuit filed against him is a civil matter, with Taylor seeking a financial award.
We’ve reached out to cops in all of the cities where the alleged incidents occurred and we’ve been told there are no active cases involving Brown at this point.