Skip to content
The Joe Rogan ExperienceThe Joe Rogan Experience

Joe Rogan Experience #2286 - Antonio Brown

Antonio Brown is a former professional football player, entertainer, and entrepreneur. https://x.com/AB84

Joe RoganhostAntonio Brownguest
Mar 7, 20251h 44mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:011:46

    Meeting Antonio Brown & the birth of his viral X persona

    1. NA

      (drum music) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

    2. NA

      The Joe Rogan Experience.

    3. NA

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day.

    4. JR

      (instrumental music) Bro.

    5. AB

      Let's do it.

    6. JR

      What's going on, man? Pleasure to meet you. What's happening?

    7. AB

      How you doing, man? Good to see you, baby.

    8. JR

      Look at ... Papa, look at that ring.

    9. AB

      Yeah.

    10. JR

      Holy shit.

    11. AB

      Good to see you.

    12. JR

      Pleasure to meet you, man. The most fun follow on Twitter by far, excuse me, X.

    13. AB

      Thank you.

    14. JR

      Whatever they wanna call it. You're the most fun.

    15. AB

      Thank you, man. You ma-

    16. JR

      (laughs)

    17. AB

      ... you make my job easy, you know?

    18. JR

      (laughs)

    19. AB

      All the entertainment you give me.

    20. JR

      How did you, uh, s- decide to start doing this? How did you ... First of all, were you always this funny?

    21. AB

      (laughs) I would like to think so. (laughs)

    22. JR

      (laughs) But, like, your social media presence, like ... I forget who. I think Tony Hinchcliffe told me about you.

    23. AB

      Yeah.

    24. JR

      He's like, "Dude, you have to follow Antonio Brown."

    25. AB

      Yeah.

    26. JR

      "You must fo- He's the most must follow on the internet." I'm like, "Really?" And then I go to your page, and I'm fucking dying laughing.

    27. AB

      (laughs)

    28. JR

      We're sharing it around the green room at the comedy store like, "Ah!" And then when I won cracker of the day, I was like, "Yes!"

    29. AB

      Yes. (laughs) Of the year.

    30. JR

      Yes. Cracker of the year, that's right.

  2. 1:464:57

    CTESPN: rebranding ‘crazy’ into CTE awareness and dark comedy

    1. JR

      How did you come up with, uh, #CTESPN? 'Cause that's my favorite.

    2. AB

      I feel like when I stopped playing football and I walked off the field, people was like, "This guy's crazy." Like, "He's retarded."

    3. JR

      (laughs)

    4. AB

      You know what I'm saying? (laughs)

    5. JR

      (laughs)

    6. AB

      "He's illiterate." So, you know, I was like, "You know what? Maybe I could, you know, rebrand CTESPN with, you know, giving people perspective of different challenges people face and-

    7. JR

      Yeah.

    8. AB

      ... great individuals, how they overcome adversity, and just kinda share in tune with perspective of, you know, how people is getting through trauma, you know?

    9. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    10. AB

      No matter if you're a football player. I mean, what it's like for you. You started damn UC ... UFC ... UC ... yeah.

    11. JR

      Yeah.

    12. AB

      UFC, like.

    13. JR

      You ... The, the reality of head trauma is something that we're all like ... As a society, we're just embracing over the last 10, 20 years.

    14. AB

      Yeah.

    15. JR

      Like, it wasn't for that Concussion movie. I think that opened up a lot of people's eyes.

    16. AB

      Yeah. Yeah.

    17. JR

      That Will Smith movie.

    18. AB

      Yes.

    19. JR

      And the story that doctor of him f- finding how many people have-

    20. AB

      Have.

    21. JR

      ... like significant brain trauma from football.

    22. AB

      Yes. So for me, I try to use it i- 'cause this is a serious standpoint. A lot of ex-players and players have ... actually has been diagnosed and, you know, passed away from CT. So for me, you know, on a serious point of, you know, a, uh, bringing rec- uh, awareness and bringing, you know, a reality standpoint of what athletes and people fighting or anyone in they d- daily lives facing from head trauma, of just people writing 'em off, you know, and-

    23. JR

      Yeah.

    24. AB

      ... encouraging therapy, encouraging how do you get through tough situation a- and then making it funny.

    25. JR

      Right.

    26. AB

      You know what I'm saying?

    27. JR

      Right.

    28. AB

      Because I feel like nowadays if you do something crazy, people are like, "Oh yeah, that guy's crazy." So it's like, "Let's just show why they crazy in CTESPN."

    29. JR

      (laughs)

    30. AB

      And show (laughs) show what the, the cause of the craziness. You know what I mean?

  3. 4:576:24

    Life after the league: money, identity loss, and ‘scavengers’

    1. JR

      That's the hardest thing, right? For like ... for pro athletes, you go from being a kid to all of the sudden you are making millions of dollars.

    2. AB

      Yes.

    3. JR

      And you're young-

    4. AB

      Yes.

    5. JR

      ... and you're wild, and you're-

    6. AB

      Yes.

    7. JR

      ... not thinking it's gonna go away, and then-

    8. AB

      Yeah.

    9. JR

      ... all your friends are buying jewelry.

    10. AB

      Yeah.

    11. JR

      And all your friends are buying Mercedes Benz and Bentleys-

    12. AB

      Yeah.

    13. JR

      ... and all this shit, and you're like, "Fuck." And i- uh, I think the number was something like 85% of NFL players go bankrupt within X amount of years after retirement.

    14. AB

      Exactly, 'cause the lifestyle, you know, and making so much money and being able to transition in regards of having a new career and not making that much money all at once like you used to.

    15. JR

      Yeah.

    16. AB

      You know? And I think sometime bankrupt could be used to protect assets in regards of people coming after you too, knowing you're a-

    17. JR

      Right. For sure.

    18. AB

      ... big target when you're in position.

    19. JR

      Of course. Yeah. But that is another problem with-

    20. AB

      Yeah.

    21. JR

      ... getting wealthy is that you become vulnerable to scoundrels and-

    22. AB

      Yeah, scavengers.

    23. JR

      And dirty hoes.

    24. AB

      Yeah, dirty hoe, dirt bag.

    25. JR

      Dirty, dirty money-grabbing, like-

    26. AB

      Yeah. Musty business.

    27. JR

      ... like calculated hoes.

    28. AB

      Yeah.

    29. JR

      You know, ones that-

    30. AB

      (laughs)

  4. 6:247:35

    Hypergamy, dating incentives, and the modern relationship marketplace

    1. JR

      Did, did you ever have situations where you thought, like, girls were trying to, like, get over on you?

    2. AB

      I just feel like nowadays, girls just want the BB ... like, the BBD, the biggest and better dill.

    3. JR

      Right. Yeah.

    4. AB

      It's like, you know what I'm saying? Who want-

    5. JR

      That's built into human nature.

    6. AB

      Yeah, it's like, yeah, human nature-

    7. JR

      That's, that's genetic.

    8. AB

      ... like, what's the next best thing?

    9. JR

      Yeah. They, uh-

    10. AB

      So-

    11. JR

      ... it's called hypergamy.

    12. AB

      Yeah.

    13. JR

      It's, like, a natural state that women, uh-

    14. AB

      Stay in, right?

    15. JR

      Well, they, they look for ... Like, if, if you're doing okay, but then all of a sudden, she starts working for a billionaire and he gets divorced and he's real friendly to her, next thing you know, she starts-

    16. AB

      In the op.

    17. JR

      She starts picturing that closet.

    18. AB

      Seeing the op, right?

    19. JR

      She starts picturing that closet-

    20. AB

      (laughs)

    21. JR

      ... seeing all those shoes and purses and-

    22. AB

      Yeah.

    23. JR

      ... all that jewelry and-

    24. AB

      She start licking chops going to the movie theater.

    25. JR

      Yeah, like, "I ... He's actually nicer to me than my boyfriend."

    26. AB

      Yeah, yeah. (laughs)

    27. JR

      And then they start justifying it, and next thing you know, old Jeff's a billionaire. (laughs)

    28. AB

      She's going, she's going to the movie theater.

    29. JR

      It's hypergamy. Yeah.

    30. AB

      It- (laughs)

  5. 7:3514:53

    CTE realities: deaths of players, therapy, and coping with career trauma

    1. JR

      Yeah. When, when, you know, when you talk about CTE, um, wh- when did you first start noticing the effects of football?

    2. AB

      I feel like, to me, I always knew, like, the game was gonna come to an end. And I feel like, to me, I always played the game smart as a receiver, li- not putting myself in bad positions, getting hit. But I did have a chance to, you know ... Rest in peace Demaryius Thomas, one of the ex-receivers who came in the NFL around the time I came in. I had a chance to see him experience, you know what I'm saying, some of that CTE trauma. And then I met-

    3. JR

      How did he pass?

    4. AB

      From CTE.

    5. JR

      Yeah?

    6. AB

      Yeah.

    7. JR

      He passed from CTE?

    8. AB

      Yeah, when they studied his brain, yeah. 'Cause I don't want to speak about the-

    9. JR

      I understand.

    10. AB

      ... problems that he really had, but-

    11. JR

      Yeah.

    12. AB

      ... you know, being a close friend to him, you know, we seen some of the experience that he was going through. And, uh, playing for Tampa my last year when we won the Super Bowl, I think it had a player, Vincent Jackson, rest in peace, also passed from, uh, CTE.

    13. JR

      (sighs)

    14. AB

      So for me, you know, it's, it's a real thing.

    15. JR

      It's a real thing.

    16. AB

      And, uh, not only just from the hits you take, but like you said, aftermath of-

    17. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    18. AB

      ... your career or, you know, having a moment in your career, where some guys can't get over it or, you know, you done seen fighters have a fight where it may not go the way that they wanted to go-

    19. JR

      Uh-huh.

    20. AB

      ... and it may could possibly affect the outcome of how they look at it. And I feel like we all have traumas in our lives from all-

    21. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    22. AB

      ... no matter if you play sports or not.

    23. JR

      Yeah.

    24. AB

      So just raising awareness of getting mental therapy and being able to, you know, work on yourself so you can have a better life.

    25. JR

      Yeah, that's a i- important point you brought up, like the psychology of a, of an athlete. You have to learn how to, like, put losses behind you and failures behind you-

    26. AB

      Yeah.

    27. JR

      ... and regain your confidence and then excel and move forward.

    28. AB

      Yeah.

    29. JR

      Right?

    30. AB

      You got- You just gotta not let one moment overtake the overall moments of your career.

  6. 14:5320:16

    Walking off the field into music: Kanye connection and creative work ethic

    1. AB

      I didn't know what I was gonna do, but it s- it kinda just, like, happened. You know, I was making music, uh, with a distribution label, with video. So, as soon as I walked off the field, they released the music. Uh, I ended up linking with Kanye West right after.

    2. JR

      (laughs)

    3. AB

      (laughs) After that, I was doing Rolling Loud. After that ... You know what I'm saying? So, for me, I was grateful, you know, as soon as I walked off the field. Music song dropped-

    4. JR

      How'd you link up with Kanye?

    5. AB

      Man, he was looking for me right when I walked off the field.

    6. JR

      Really?

    7. AB

      Yeah. They was calling me, uh, Justin Laboy, like, uh, calling me in New York, like, "Yo, Kanye wanna meet you." I ended up flying to LA with, uh ... to meet, uh, Rich with Fashion Nova. And, uh, we met right in Craig's, randomly in Craig's, but he was looking for me in LA, and after that, ended up hanging with him, making his album, Donda 2, and then-

    8. JR

      Wow.

    9. AB

      ... just getting opportunities, so ...

    10. JR

      That's crazy.

    11. AB

      I've been blessed to be able to have that happen for me, you know, coming off the field.

    12. JR

      What is it like working with Kanye? 'Cause I can imagine that motherfucker's-

    13. AB

      Kanye, a lot of energy, genius-

    14. JR

      ... driven.

    15. AB

      ... uh, meetings at eight o'clock. All the music engi-

    16. JR

      8:00 AM or 8:00 PM?

    17. AB

      8:00 AM.

    18. JR

      Really?

    19. AB

      Every day, yeah.

    20. JR

      Really?

    21. AB

      All the engineers there, uh, everyone on the team, uh-

    22. JR

      That's unusual. Rappers at 8:00 AM?

    23. AB

      Nah, ye- ... Kanye is really a, a business guy who put in a lot of work. I know a lot of people see his rants and him going off, but he's really passionate about his work and, uh ...

    24. JR

      He's a genius.

    25. AB

      Yeah.

    26. JR

      He's just scattered.

    27. AB

      Literally, literally.

    28. JR

      He's all over the place. And sometimes he goes a little off, a little ou- out- off the reservation, but-

    29. AB

      I feel like he think in a lot of forms that-

    30. JR

      Yes.

  7. 20:1623:13

    The ‘crash out bucket’ helmet and a jump into politics & division

    1. JR

      Yeah, what's with the helmet?

    2. AB

      I'm going to crash out.

    3. JR

      Why'd you, why'd you, why'd you choose the helmet?

    4. AB

      I feel like this is one of the lucrative helmets that they wear when they go to war.

    5. JR

      (laughs) Lucrative?

    6. AB

      Yeah, lucrative.

    7. JR

      (laughs)

    8. AB

      You know, this the crash out bucket, 'cause I feel like when you wear this helmet, you already crashed out. It's like you committed to the crash out, like-

    9. JR

      Right, right, right, you're all in.

    10. AB

      All in. So I feel like we at war right now with the Democrats. I know you-

    11. JR

      (laughs)

    12. AB

      (laughs)

    13. JR

      (laughs)

    14. AB

      Is that... Isn't that crazy to say? I know, but it is.

    15. JR

      That's crazy to say, but I know exactly what you're saying.

    16. AB

      Exactly.

    17. JR

      I just can't believe people will say it and it's true.

    18. AB

      It's wild life right now. Yeah.

    19. JR

      What is ha- Like, the Democrats are now the Republicans.

    20. AB

      Yes, it's wild. The Democrat didn't even clap-

    21. JR

      They're the ones trying to control speech.

    22. AB

      They didn't even clap for the little kid.

    23. JR

      No, no.

    24. AB

      That was some bullshit.

    25. JR

      They didn't clap for the little kid, they didn't clap for the lady who-

    26. AB

      Yeah.

    27. JR

      ... got fucked up by that volleyball player-

    28. AB

      Yeah.

    29. JR

      ... that was a dude.

    30. AB

      We at war.

  8. 23:1338:47

    Award shows on X: massive engagement and why people crave fun again

    1. JR

      So, when you did the awards-

    2. AB

      Yes.

    3. JR

      ... like, uh, who put that together?

    4. AB

      Me and my guy, uh, Jacob. We put it together.

    5. JR

      Genius.

    6. AB

      Yeah.

    7. JR

      Genius.

    8. AB

      That was amazing.

    9. JR

      And everybody loved it. It was huge.

    10. AB

      Everyone was loving it, yeah. I think it was bigger than the award show at the Oscars. I feel like we had a lot of numbers.

    11. JR

      You had a lot of numbers on X, man.

    12. AB

      Yeah.

    13. JR

      Like, a lot of people watched that. What was the final numbers on that?

    14. AB

      I think almost, uh, 200 million engagement on-

    15. JR

      That is so crazy.

    16. AB

      Yeah, right on the X, yeah.

    17. JR

      That's so cr- But it's fun. People are starving for fun.

    18. AB

      It's fun, it's exciting. They need excitement.

    19. JR

      Yeah.

    20. AB

      A little uncomfortable but a little cool, 'cause-

    21. JR

      Yeah.

    22. AB

      ... we make the uncomfortability cool when it's like things.

    23. JR

      Also, you're doing it all with a big smile.

    24. AB

      It's happiness, man.

    25. JR

      Yeah, you're having a good time.

    26. AB

      Yeah, having a good time, making people feel good.

    27. JR

      Yeah.

    28. AB

      That's what we need more of.

    29. JR

      Are you gonna do more award shows?

    30. AB

      I need to. We need to do more, especially if you a part of it. If you gonna come support it, of course.

  9. 38:471:03:20

    Free speech, old Twitter consequences, and the Rashard Mendenhall cautionary tale

    1. JR

      Yes. When you first started posting wild shit on Twitter-

    2. AB

      Yeah.

    3. JR

      ... did, did anybody ever call you and go, "Hey man, you gotta stop..." (laughs)

    4. AB

      Of course, everyone. They was like, "Bro, what the fuck?" (laughs) They were like calling my phone like, "Bro, you an idiot. You calling people crackers now? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

    5. JR

      (laughs)

    6. AB

      I'm like, "Bro, it's, it's an uncomfortable sense of humor for comedy, bro."

    7. JR

      Well, cracker is the most benign of all insults. That doesn't work at all.

    8. AB

      That's what I'm saying, it's like-

    9. JR

      Because-

    10. AB

      Everyone love crackers.

    11. JR

      Yeah, no one's upset.

    12. AB

      Ritz Crackers, Cheez-Its.

    13. JR

      Yeah. No one's upset.

    14. AB

      I just feel like when it first started, when I first started, they were like, "What the hell is you doing?"

    15. JR

      Yeah.

    16. AB

      Or if I get at it a day, they're like, "Whoa."

    17. JR

      (laughs)

    18. AB

      (laughs)

    19. JR

      Yeah.

    20. AB

      You know what I mean? But I was like, "You know what? It's not meant to like... it's meant to bring people up to say like, 'Yo, we could have a funny moment.'" Like-

    21. JR

      For fun.

    22. AB

      Yeah.

    23. JR

      Yeah, fun.

    24. AB

      Yeah, enjoy yourself, man.

    25. JR

      Enjoy yourself. Yeah. We-

    26. AB

      Yeah.

    27. JR

      We need a lot more of that. And-

    28. AB

      Yeah.

    29. JR

      But I think, you know, we were conditioned because of the way the old Twitter worked, to be very careful of what you said.

    30. AB

      Cautious. Yeah.

  10. 43:581:04:50

    Internet chaos: memes, shock content, Snapchat surveillance, and growing up online

    1. AB

      No, I was texting myself.

    2. JR

      You don't Snapchat, do you?

    3. AB

      Nah, I don't really Snapchat.

    4. JR

      No, the kids Snapchat. My-

    5. AB

      Yeah.

    6. JR

      ... my kids don't even text. They just snap their friends.

    7. AB

      Snapchat, eh, eh.

    8. JR

      They're in the middle of the movie theater or something, they'll just like take a weird face, send it to their friends. I'm like, "What are you doing?"

    9. AB

      They're ke-

    10. JR

      "This is a weird way to communicate."

    11. AB

      Snapchat's just got all the filters of the face, you could just make a crater with the text.

    12. JR

      Oh, yeah. Kids are just all in addicted to Snapchat.

    13. AB

      Yeah, I was just texting my son.

    14. JR

      You know another thing that's weird too? Is they all have a Snap map so they know where they all are.

    15. AB

      Oh, they can see where you at all the time.

    16. JR

      They're like, "Oh, she's with him, that fucking bitch." You know? Like-

    17. AB

      (laughs)

    18. JR

      (laughs) You see, you see where all your friends are.

    19. AB

      They stalking every sign, yeah.

    20. JR

      You, like, you got a map of all your friends that you let follow you.

    21. AB

      You can see the whole layout, where everyone at.

    22. JR

      Yeah, it's weird, man. They're all little surveillance experts.

    23. AB

      It's kind of awkward, right? Looking at it standing on the map. (laughs)

    24. JR

      Yeah, they're all little narcs. They're all narcing on each other. (laughs)

    25. AB

      (laughs)

    26. JR

      But the crazy thing is they give it up to each other. They all-

    27. AB

      Yeah.

    28. JR

      Like, you have to ... If you have friends, you have to let your friends know where you are on the Snap map.

    29. AB

      That's right.

    30. JR

      And if you block it, like if you block them temporarily-

Episode duration: 1:44:42

Install uListen for AI-powered chat & search across the full episode — Get Full Transcript

Transcript of episode NZBjSE6HQ0I

Get more out of YouTube videos.

High quality summaries for YouTube videos. Accurate transcripts to search & find moments. Powered by ChatGPT & Claude AI.