Report: Tom Brady’s White House Absence In 2017 Angered Trump
With several Philadelphia Eagles players expected to pass on joining President Donald Trump at the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl LII win over the Patriots, The Philadelphia Eagles Football Team was invited to the White House. Unfortunately, only a small number of players decided to come, and we canceled the event. Staying in the Locker Room for the playing of our National Anthem is as disrespectful to our country as kneeling. Sorry!
But it’s not the first time that the absence of an NFL talent has angered Trump.
In fact, Trump’s administration apparently dealt with similar fury once Trump found out Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was not going to attend last year’s celebration honoring the team for their historic Super Bowl LI comeback win over the Falcons.
From The Washington Post:
Trump grew angry in April 2017 when Tom Brady said he planned to skip the White House visit with the Patriots, huddling angrily with aides and even calling Patriots owner Robert Kraft. One former senior administration official described a chaotic scene unfolding over the heartlands of America, as Trump flew back from an event in Wisconsin. Trump made a number of calls and asked aides to help fix the situation, worried that Brady’s absence would reflect poorly on him.
Brady later said he skipped the event to be with his ailing mother, while another half-dozen Patriots skipped to protest Trump.
Eventually, Trump was calmed down, and the Patriots came to the White House.
Brady’s absence from the South Lawn last year was an obvious blow to Trump, as the 71-year-old billionaire-turned-President has a long history of repeatedly letting everybody (especially those on Twitter) know that he is good friends with Brady.
The two have been photographed together in the past (granted, that was long before Trump’s latest jump into politics), and Brady’s locker even featured one of Trump’s famous ‘red hats’ when Trump’s presidential bid first began in 2015. But the brand-conscious Brady has done his best to distance himself from Trump and their alleged friendship in recent years, which has ‘disappointed’ Trump, according to a New York Times profile that ran last winter.
Trump even reportedly phoned Patriots coach Bill Belichick earlier this year in search of an update on Brady.
Belichick, meanwhile, shot down questions thrown his way regarding Trump’s fight with the Eagles when speaking to reporters before the first day of Patriots mandatory mini-camp at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday.
“We’re focused on what we’re doing today,” Belichick said. “I’m not really worried about what everybody else is doing. We’re trying to have a good practice and take advantage of the opportunity we have to improve as a football team today.”