Steven Ruiz is coming for Antonio Brown’s neck.
Ruiz, who previously worked as Antonio Brown’s chef, said he’s planning to file a lawsuit against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver for $10,000 in unpaid wages. As you know, he was the man who set off an NFL investigation that informed everybody that Brown used a fake COVID-19 vaccination card, leading to the wideout’s three-game suspension.
He spoke with TMZ Sports about his decision to move forward with a civil suit.
“The game plan now is to file a lawsuit and take it from there,” Ruiz said. “People provide a service and you’ve got to pay for it. That’s it.” https://share.tmz.com/videos/2021-12-03-120321-steven-ruiz-1317240/
It was Ruiz who provided the evidence that included text messages to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times in November that showed Brown’s girlfriend, Cydney Moreau, asking for a fake vaccine card and saying Brown would pay $500 for one.
The NFL and NFL Players Association released a joint statement after Brown, Bucs safety Mike Edwards and free-agent wide receiver John Franklin III accepted three-game suspensions.
“The health and safety of players and personnel is our top priority. The protocols were jointly developed working with our respective experts to ensure that we are practicing and playing football as safely as possible during the ongoing pandemic. The NFL-NFLPA jointly reinforce their commitment and further emphasize the importance of strict adherence to the protocols to protect the well-being of everyone associated with the NFL.”
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Ruiz later added he likely would’ve never came forward if he had just gotten paid what he was owed.
“If he had just probably paid me, you know what? He probably would still be getting paid in the NFL right now,” Ruiz said. “He’d probably be playing the games that he could be playing and none of this would have even happened.”
Brown has been sidelined since the team’s Week 6 win over the Philadelphia Eagles because of an ankle injury and was already expected to miss at least two more weeks well before the suspension was announced.
Mark Maske of the Washington Post reported Brown originally submitted a fake vaccination card but is now “legitimately vaccinated.”
He will be eligible to return for the Buccaneers’ Dec. 26 game against the Carolina Panthers.
