Antonio Brown refutes reports of selfishness: I'm 'a team player'

Since streaming a 17-minute Facebook Live session from the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room in January, Antonio Brown's character has come under fire.

A report that he pouted when coming off the field in the red zone against the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game pushed that narrative further, but Brown is denying the report, along with any thoughts that he's too focused on his own production.

"If you don’t read the news, you’re uninformed. If you read the news, you’re misinformed," Brown told Charles Curtis from ForTheWin on Thursday, stealing a line from Denzel Washington. "Being in the position I'm in, people love to get out more information, and it’s not even about if the information is true. It’s about who will be the first to get it out."

Brown said we was upset about reports that he's all about his own stats, considering he's caught over 100 balls in each of the last four seasons. He blames the media for making up stories about him to push the idea that he's selfish.

"People love to make stories they know people will listen to and that can become a distraction," said Brown. "You guys carry a responsibility to tell the truth. I’ll hope for some good stories and not just stories from anonymous sources that say I don’t celebrate when my teammates score and I pout.

"That's not the case, it's never been the case, I've always been a team player. Do I want the ball? Yeah. Every day, I want the ball. You should want to be the reason you win. I have never pouted or not been engaged."

While Brown denies any wrongdoing, he didn't deny he had agreed to a marketing deal with Facebook prior to his locker room broadcast, claiming "it's top secret."