Several members from the 2016-2017 Super Bowl winning New England Patriots are boycotting the team’s April 19 trip to the White House to celebrate their season with President Donald Trump.
Chris Long, Martellus Bennett, Devin McCourty, Alan Branch and LeGarrette Blount all announced they would forgo the tradition due to the man currently in office. Dont’a Hightower also announced he would not go, but reasoned that he had gone previously with the University of Alabama and with the Patriots so he did not want to go again.
Friday, McCourty and Long appeared in a video titled “StandingPats: (Be Patriots)” along with fans to discuss their opposition to Trump.
Long says in the video, “When my son grows up, and I believe the legacy of our president is going to be what it is, I don’t want him to say, ‘Hey dad. Why did you go when you knew it was wrong?'”
One fan says he was tired of the Patriots being labeled “alt-Right,” which McCourty proposes they “switch the narrative.”
The video concludes with each fan, McCourty and Long saying, “Be Patriots.”
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