Many people speculated that players would skip the White House trip with Donald Trump as the president. Sunday night the New England Patriots beat the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI, making them the first champions in the Trump reign, and as expected, we have our first player foregoing the trip. Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett said he is not going, and he’s not worried about upsetting Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who is a friend and supporter of President Trump.
Bennett said after the Patriots’ 34-28 win over the Falcons that he’s “not going to go” to the traditional meet-and-greet with the president. He said he isn’t concerned about it and thinks the team believes “in whatever I want to do.”
Bennett has previously shown his support for Hillary Clinton and disgust with Donald Trump on Twitter.
I’m with her.
— Martellus Bennett (@MartysaurusRex) November 8, 2016
Surprised the president dude didn’t ban celebrating Chinese New Year in America!!
— Martellus Bennett (@MartysaurusRex) January 29, 2017