Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell joked and debated what it means to have CTE and whether they have it

Former Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Bowlers Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell were allowed to be in the same room together on Monday.

Brown’s “CTESPN” podcast hosted the two former stars for a discussion about their unceremonious exits from Pittsburgh.

They talked about their thoughts and fears about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

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The disease causes mental degeneration in people who have suffered repeated concussions and traumatic brain injuries. It is common among NFL players.

Brown, in particular, has been suspected of having the disease. He has repeatedly claimed to have it in social media posts, such as one in September 2023, where he wrote, “She knows I have CTE, that’s why she licks me” in a video posted to X. In April, he wrote, “My CTE is acting up.”

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In Bell’s interview Tuesday, Brown asked his former teammate if he thought he had the disease. Bell said he didn’t think Brown had it, or that he had it himself.

Brown then offered his own definition of the disease, which is very different from that of doctors. He denied the idea that CTE causes “brain damage.”

“I don’t want to say it’s a brain injury because you can’t live if it’s a brain injury,” Brown said. “I feel like people try to frame CTE as a concussion, but hey, we’ve had a lot of concussions. You know what I mean, you can live after a concussion.”

Bell initially stated that he believed ETC was directly related to brain damage. But he has not changed his position since.

Brown said he believes ETC is a series of traumatic incidents. He brought up an incident Bell said he experienced earlier in the show, when he was just four years old and had to play defensive and offensive line because his uncle wanted him to get used to football kicks.

“I think it’s a characteristic of the trauma that we all go through as human beings,” Brown said. “Any child who has to go through that accumulates some kind of trauma because, as a child, you become more aggressive. You develop anger.”

But Brown had previously said he believed his ETC was caused by a blow from his teammate, the former Steelers linebacker James Harrison, during an Instagram Live session on February 4.

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“I wanted to tell you that I think James Harrison gave me an ETC,” Brown said. “James Harrison wore an illegal helmet for over 20 years in the NFL, and he hit me once. And since he hit me, I’ve become very aggressive. So, blame James Harrison for my ETC.”

In December, Domestic charges were filed against Brown after an incident at his Florida home. The charges were eventually dropped. In October, he was ordered to pay $1.2 million to a moving truck driver after an alleged assault in February 2020.

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