Leave it to Antonio Brown to Cut a Song about the $1.1 Million in Jewelry He Bought, Then Get Sued for Non-Payment

As you are all no doubt aware, this is "Shuki Diamonds," by noted music impresario Antonio Brown. As someone who can barely get through a gym workout or an afternoon of working around the yard without some AB music in my AirPods, this is for certain at the top of my playlists. 

Brown of course released this to celebrate the purchase he made from famed West Coast jeweler to the stars Shuki International. And there's nothing at all unusual about that. People have been singing about jewelry since Marilyn Monroe did "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend," Sinatra sang "Baubles, Bangles and Beads," and ZZ Top gave us "Pearl Necklace." Though I'm not sure that last one qualifies, you get the point. 

What makes this an Antonio Brown story is that he's been charged with stiffing the very business he wrote the song about:

Source - A celeb jeweler who's become famous for providing diamond pieces to high-profile athletes like Floyd Mayweather is suing Antonio Brown ... claiming the ex-NFL star owes him over $1 million.

Shuki International spelled out the allegations against the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver in a new lawsuit filed in Los Angeles this week ... claiming he gave Brown several pieces of jewelry back in 2022, under the promise that AB would pay him $1,095,000 for it all.

The problem ... according to the suit, obtained by TMZ Sports, Brown never paid up.

Among the items that Shuki said he gave Brown included Shuki's famous "Shuki International" diamond fingers -- which the jeweler said cost $500K apiece. ...

According to the suit, Brown got at least some of the items on Feb. 24, 2022 ... and agreed to pay the nearly $1.1 million price tag for it all by Dec. 1, 2022. ...

Brown ... has a song titled "Shuki Diamonds" ... a track he put out last year to pay homage to the celeb jeweler. 

In fact, the two have actually hit the stage in the past year to perform the song together.

Far be it for any of us to blame the victim of a crime (allegedly). Shuki appeared to have been operating in good faith. Brown might have pulled the old "Whoops! I left my credit card in my other wallet" routine, and he took it on faith that Brown would be good for it. After all, it's not like AB is a hard man to track down. He not only owns a professional football team, he's always keeping a high profile to let everyone know where he is. Usually by posting suggestions he's having sex with his former teammate's ex-wife. So I guess it could be considered good business practice to let $1.1 million worth of diamonds walk out your door if they're on the shoulders and fingers of a celebrity athlete, rather than insult him by demanding payment upfront. 

Funny thing about that timeline though. The $1.1 million was due last December 1st. Meaning it was roughly a month after Brown had to fork over $1.2 million to a moving van driver he also owed money to, but chose to pay him in flying rocks instead of credit, debit or Venmo:

That was from an incident that happened in January of 2020. Meaning he chose to physically assault a blue collar worker rather than pay him for services rendered. And two years later, Shuki took him on his word as a gentleman he'd pay for the diamonds when he got around to it. So yeah, I think we can consider that a triumph of optimism over experience. 

Of course that doesn't mean Shuki doesn't deserve to be made whole. As great as that song is, it's not going to pay Shuki International's overhead or put food on the table. Nor is charging Brown criminally with a million dollars worth of shoplifting. I just have my doubts that he'll ever see that money, based on the track record of the man he chose to trust. And if anyone's getting a million bucks, let's hope it's the truck driver. No one wrote a song about his driving and moving skills. Plus he got attacked with a hail of rocks. And could probably use the money more. 

But the takeaway here from everyone is that when doing business with Antonio Brown, get your payment up front. In full. When you give him the famous diamond finger, he just gives you the finger right back. Tom Brady got him a ring, and look how he treated him.