Cam Newton is finally breaking his silence on the viral fight between him and two TopShelf Performance coaches.
As previously reported, footage surfaced last Sunday (Feb. 25) that shows Cam, TJ, and Steph Brown tussling at an event in Atlanta.
Cam Newton Shares How He Feels About Himself Following Viral Fight
The involved coaches and the Atlanta Police Department spoke on the matter earlier this week. But Cam remained hush-hush on his involvement. That changed on Friday (March 1) when he shared his POV of the incident on his platform ‘4th & 1 with Cam Newton.’
“I’m disappointed in myself by letting it escalate to what it did,” he said. “And that’s why I’m apologetic about it. I’ve seen clips on clips on clips. I’ve seen the content that they put out or whatever. The truth of the matter is, me being in my position I should’ve never put myself in that position. That’s just the truth. Cause even then, that sh*t could’ve got ugly.”
While Cam Newton understands how people can see humor, he’s dead-set on highlighting the seriousness of the situation.
“…We can laugh about it, we can play and I will always try to bring humor into something that’s light-hearted. But this is a serious situation. I even seen a clip that said, ‘Yo, people are laughing, but they weren’t laughing about Nipsey. Or, call it what you want, what if serious injury would’ve happen on either side. Something happen to me, somthing happen to them. Now, my eight children are fatherless now.”
Cam is currently expecting his sixth biological child with his girlfriend Jasmin Brown. Cam has five children and two adopted children from two previous relationships.
Watch Cam’s full comments below.
Despite the tussle with TJ and Steph, Cam Newton says he plans to continue working with the camp. He says it’s something he enjoys and has been doing for the last 13 to 14 years. It’s his “way of giving back.” Newton also appreciates seeing the kids and himself in them while they find amusement in training with or playing against him.
Newton tells his mentees to not let their athletic journeys end because of “dumb sh*t” like this past weekend’s events, he said.
“I think about the kids who look up to me, I feel like I let them down. Because I can’t sit up here and say ‘Hey you gotta be bigger than that and then all of a sudden I do that,” Cam said. “And that just goes to show you, you gotta always stay in control of your emotions. There’s no excuse. It’s really not.”
He said their fight echoes the stereotypes of violence happening at “Black events.” Rather than “play the victim,” Newton is holding himself “accountable.” He said that day he let comments get to him that he’d usually ignore.
Here’s What The TopShelf Performance Coaches Said
As we last explained, the coaches involved in the brawl publicly addressed the situation in an interview with Atlanta’s 105.3 The Beat.
TJ began by apologizing to everyone who attended the event, including the parents of both teams. He stated that the fight should’ve “never happened.”
“We should’ve been able to sit down and talk. There’s no reason we should be yelling at each other while a game’s going on… Ain’t none of that necessary,” TJ added.
The TopShelf Performance coach alleged that Newton was “talking crazy” for “no reason.” Given that it’s allegedly a norm for Newton, it was all good until Cam allegedly got in Steph’s face. That’s when things went left, TJ says.
They also issued a written apology on social media following the incident.
Watch their comments below.
According to the Atlanta Police Department, all three parties involved have declined to pursue criminal charges.