The former NFL player charged with assaulting a United Airlines employee in a caught-on-video slugfest at Newark Airport claims the worker challenged him to a fight – and called him a “d—” and “p—y.”
Ex-Denver Broncos cornerback Brendan Langley, 27, alleged that the unidentified airline employee was the one who provoked the viral confrontation, TMZ reported.
“Brendan Langley was minding his business walking through the airport with his bags when he was accosted by a United Airlines employee who claimed to ‘run the airport,'” his attorney Alan Jackson said in a statement obtained by the outlet.
“When Brendan tried to ignore him, the assailant followed and harassed Brendan, calling him a ‘d— and a ‘p—y’ and challenging him to fight,” he added.
Jackson said Langley – a much taller, robust athlete — yelled out for help, but no one stepped up.
“Footage from the airport security cameras establishes without question that Brendan was in reasonable fear of physical harm, and reasonably and lawfully defended himself,” he reportedly said in the statement.
Footage captured the ex-cornerback unleash a flurry of blows on the airline employee around 11 a.m. Thursday.
Langley has been arrested on a charge of simple assault and was suspended by the Calgary Stampeders, his team in the Canadian Football League, according to CTV News.
“The Stampeders take matters such as these very seriously,” Stampeders President and GM John Hufnagel told the news outlet in a statement.
“After learning details of the incident including the filing of a criminal charge, we are indefinitely suspending Brendan Langley,” he added.
Head coach Dave Dickenson said the team was initially unaware of the charges against the player. “But we found out like a lot of other people and my only real comment is that is we live in a world that everybody’s got cameras and we’re trying to represent our city, we take it very seriously,” he told reporters, according to CTV News.
“And I’m gonna let (Hufnagel) handle it from here and see where it goes,” he added.
The unidentified United employee has reportedly not been charged in the fight, but he has been fired by the company.
“United Ground Express informed us that the employee has been terminated,” an airline rep has told The Post in an email, referring to the company’s connection subsidiary.
In the video, the dazed worker put up his dukes and proceeded to slap Langley after he was clocked.
“You saw that s—?” Langley shouts at a bystander before delivering a punch that sends the worker to the floor and left him bleeding from the head.
The bloodied United worker stumbles back on his feet and confronts the football player again.
“You wants some more? He wants some more!” Langley yells at him.
It was unclear from the clip who threw the first punch. Another video shared online of the incident appeared to show Langley landing the first blow.
The fight is believed to have begun when Langley used a wheelchair to transport his luggage — instead of a luggage cart that cost $5, the Daily Mail reported.
Langley addressed the incident on Twitter, writing: “yall aint off the hook… worst customer experience in the entirety of my life on Heaven!!!!” He then claimed in a tweet that he was assaulted by the United worker and was defending himself.
A United rep told The Post in an email Monday the company “does not tolerate violence of any kind at our airports or on board our planes and we are working with local authorities to further investigate this matter.”
This article originally appeared on New York Post