The breakup between Antonio Brown and Ben Roethlisberger just got a lot nastier ... with AB telling the Steelers QB to "shut up already" ... because they were NEVER friends.
It's no secret the 2 butted heads several times when they were Steelers teammates ... with Brown even tweeting Ben had the "owner mentality" after getting blamed for a late-game interception last season.
Roethlisberger recently talked about how he handled that specific situation in an interview with Michele Tafoya ... saying, "I wish I wouldn't have done it."
"Obviously, we saw what happened and obviously it ruined a friendship," Ben said. "I just got caught up in the emotion of the heat of the battle."
But, AB is havin' NONE of that "friend" talk ... blasting his old QB for trying to make it sound like they were tight.
"Never friends just had to get my ends.......shut up already," AB tweeted on Tuesday.
Brown has been surrounded by drama for months now -- from Big Ben to helmets to a frozen fish head -- but it's clear he's ready to move on from the former.