Cam Newton apologized for his role in a viral fight at a 7-on-7 football event Sunday.
via: The Athletic
“I apologize to anybody affected. That’s Steph, that’s TJ, that’s their organization, that’s C1N, — my organization — my players, my parents, my staff members,” the former quarterback said on the most recent episode of “4th&1 with Cam Newton.”
Stephon and TJ Brown, trainers and coaches of TopShelf Performance, strongly condemned the incident in a statement released to The Athletic, and said the company is addressing the matter internally.
“There’s no excuse, there’s really not,” Newton said. “It could’ve been a melee, more violence could’ve stemmed from that, and it’s just not called for.”
The scuffle occurred at an event organized by We Ball Sports, an apparel and sports media company. The event brought players on under-15 and under-18 teams in Georgia and Alabama together. Newton is the founder of C1N, a program that participated.
In videos of the fight posted to social media, Newton was approached at the top of a set of steps before being grabbed. Two men shown fighting with Newton were both coaches for TopShelf Performance and formerly coached with the quarterback, The Athletic previously reported. The video shows Newton grabbing one of the combatants and dragging him aside, where the fracas continued.
According to Nehemiah Mitchell, the co-founder of We Ball Sports, TopShelf beat C1N in a “heated game” with a lot of trash talk between the under-18 teams on Saturday. The tensions boiled over on Sunday.
“To every single high school player, to every single person I’ve influenced, to every single athlete, use my situation as a way to understand that in one moment, in one decision, your life can change, just like that,” Newton said while snapping his fingers.
“I think about the kids that look up to me, and whether they verbalize their appreciation or just stare in amazement, I feel like I let them down. Because I can’t sit up here and say, ‘Hey bro, you gotta be bigger than that’ and then all of a sudden I do that. That just goes to show you, you gotta always stay in control of your emotions.”
Newton, 34, was the No. 1 pick in the 2011 NFL Draft out of Auburn. He played 11 seasons in the NFL, split between the Carolina Panthers and the New England Patriots. A three-time Pro Bowler and first-team All-Pro, Newton’s best season was in 2015, when he won NFL MVP, leading the Panthers to the Super Bowl.
