No arrests were made, but Newton realizes things could have been uglier
Cam Newton involved in fight at 7-on-7 football tournament
Former NFL star Cam Newton was seen in the midst of a brawl at a 7-on-7 football tournament in Georgia. (Credit: Marquise Highlands/LOCAL NEWS X /TMX)
Cam Newton delved further into the altercation he had during a 7-on-7 football tournament in Atlanta last month, where video caught him fighting with coaches he formerly worked with on his "C1N" squad.
Newton joined Shaquille O’Neal and Adam Lefkoe on "The Big Podcast with Shaq," where he said things could have escalated to the point where handcuffs might have been on his wrists.
"Somebody is going to say something triggering to you, and it just takes one time," Newton said. "I could be in jail, somebody could file a lawsuit."
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Cam Newton attends 2022 Huncho Day Celebrity Football Game during Fan Controlled Football Season v2.0 - Week Three at Pullman Yards on April 30, 2022 in Atlanta. (Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
No one was arrested during the incident at the "We Ball Sports" inaugural 7-on-7 tournament, where coaches TJ and Steph Brown were seen fighting with Newton at the top of the steps near the football field.
O’Neal initially brought up how he had noticed videos where kids are talking trash to Newton, and did not understand why that happened.
"It’s the access," Newton said before getting into the altercation that occurred. "Just to give you context: Anybody who knows me, know I’m a product of my environment. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. What you saw, those were grown men. Those weren’t kids. So that narrative [is] familiar coaching and it got chippy.
"For me, that’s not the first time that happens. And honestly knowing my world, that probably won’t be the last. I think looking back at it, [it’s like], ‘Yeah, Cam standing on business. Yeah, Cam had bobby pins in his hair.’ Those are all funny things, but when I look at it, it’s like, ‘Man, it could’ve gotten ugly on both sides.’ I’m the type of person, when I feel triggered, I react. It’s not, ‘Cmon Shaq, let’s go get ‘em.’ I’m not that person. You say something to me, and I go. I don’t think. And that’s the issue.
"That’s where my whole support was kinda caught off guard. We were talking, something was said, and then it was like, ‘Aye, aye, where you going?’ I’m going to use the restroom. But that’s just how I rock and roll."
Newton previously addressed the situation on his "4th and 1" podcast this past Friday, expressing his remorse for what went down.
"I’m disappointed in myself for letting it escalate to what it did and that’s what I’m apologetic to," he said. "The truth of the matter is this: Me, being in my position, I should’ve never put myself in that position. That’s just the truth. That could’ve got ugly, for real."
Newton did acknowledge that trash talk from the game he played against Brown’s TopShelf Performance (TSP) team carried over from the field.
"There was a lot of talking on both sides – on all side, let’s just put it like that," he explained. "I don’t want to point the finger and say this person said that or that person said that. Am I saying this is the first time it happened or the last time it happened? It’s something that starts with words and should’ve ended with words."
Cam Newton, #1 of the Carolina Panthers, warms up prior to the game against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium on Dec. 19, 2021 in Orchard Park, New York. (Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)
TJ and Steph Brown both spoke with Fox News Digital the day after the fight occurred to share their side of the story, when they felt tension immediately the day before when the two teams faced each other. Videos from warmups showed both teams trash talking, including Newton, as both sides showcased their rivalry with one another.
TSP would end up winning the game, and TJ Brown said Newton confronted him the next day in the parking lot before the Sunday slate of games.
"Sunday comes, I’m walking through the parking lot, walking to the field," he recounted. "Cam jumps out of his car and yells, ‘Hey, all that sorry s--- ain’t gonna work today. What we betting today? What we betting?’ I’m like, ‘I ain’t betting you, bro. I already beat you three, four times. You got to beat me first.’ He like, ‘What we betting? I got plenty of money. I ain’t ever running out of money.’ That’s when I told him, ‘That’s your problem. All you care about is money. You think money is everything. You can’t buy me.’ And I walk off."
TJ Brown added that Newton was hurling jabs at TSP during their game from the top steps.
COACHES INVOLVED IN CAM NEWTON FIGHT REVEAL WHAT LED TO ALTERCATION WITH NFL QB: ‘TYPICAL CAM’
"It’s probably three minutes into the game, he’s sitting up top with all his kids around him under a tent yelling down on us," TJ said. "‘Hey, I know that play. That’s my stuff. I taught y’all everything y’all know. I’m y’all daddy. I made y’all. I’m the reason for everything y’all got going on.’ He’s just yelling all this stuff."
One anonymous parent who was present for the altercation on Sunday confirmed to Fox News Digital that Newton had been taunting those on the field.
Cam Newton is seen during Fan Controlled Football Season v2.0 - Week Three on April 30, 2022 in Atlanta. (Brett Davis/Fan Controlled Football/Getty Images)
Steph Brown went to confront Newton after the game, which escalated things even more. The way TJ remembered it, he was walking up the steps where Steph Brown and Newton were already standing atop, and video shows Newton grabbing Steph Brown by his jacket after they were face-to-face trading words.
TJ jumped in, throwing a punch at Newton before the latter grabbed him, and the fight moved toward a fence.
"If you’re walking up a flight of stairs, and you see a 6’6" guy grab your little brother trying to throw him down some stairs, you’re going to intervene," TJ said. "It doesn’t matter who you are, rather it be a punch, rather it be a push, rather it be grabbing him. You’re going to do something. So, at that point, with Cam putting his hands on another grown man, something is going to come behind that.
"This is typical Cam Newton behavior on the 7-on-7 scene," TJ added. "But yesterday was a little worse, and you can even ask people in his organization. Cam ain’t never act like that. I’ve seen him talk crazy to parents, talk crazy to some of the kids because everybody tries to make it seem like, ‘Oh, the kids just be disrespecting Cam.’ No, Cam be disrespecting people, too."
Cam Newton at Michael Rubin's Fanatics Super Bowl Party held at Marquee Dayclub Las Vegas at The Cosmopolitan on Feb. 10, 2024 in Las Vegas. (Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images)
Newton said, "These are people who I knew. They were a part of my program at one particular point. They started their own and it was what it was. It’s hard for me to believe. It just comes off as disingenuous banter going back and forth. I don’t mention it. Everybody gets the same Cam."
Scott Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital.
