The New England Patriots stunned the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI on Sunday night with a 25-point comeback to win in overtime, 34-28. Now, players on the Patriots who didn’t support Trump are conflicted internally about whether to visit the White House as is tradition with championship-winning teams.
Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett has been outspoken in his criticism of President Trump, and said after his team’s thrilling victory that he would not be traveling with his team to the White House.
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“I’m not going to go,” Bennett said in a post-game interview to the Dallas Morning News.
When asked why he wouldn’t go, Bennett simply replied, “It is what it is. People know how I feel about it. Just follow me on Twitter.”
In the week leading up to the Super Bowl, Bennett also declined to go to Washington if his team won, saying, “Because I don’t support the guy in the house.”
This isn’t the first time that Bennett has gone political. During the initial fallout to Colin Kaepernick’s protest of the national anthem, Bennett stood in solidarity with the Niners quarterback.
However, instead of taking a knee or sitting during the anthem, he stood on the sideline and held his fist in the air after the anthem played, which is symbolic with the black power movement.
Luckily for Bennett, there is precedence for skipping a White House visit. After the Patriots won Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, Tom Brady declined to visit with his team when President Obama was still in office. Brady did not give a reason for why he skipped attending, but, as we know through his friendship with President Trump, politics probably played a role.
Still, congratulations to Mr. Bennett and the entire Patriots squad on their victory.
