Martellus Bennett plans to skip Patriots' White House visit with President Donald Trump
New England Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett won his first Super Bowl ring on Sunday. And as he promised earlier this past week, he’ll make good on not attending any championship celebration at the White House with new President Donald Trump.
The colorful Bennett (trust us and read here) first said Monday night that he didn’t plan to go. Bennett confirmed that after the Super Bowl victory in which he caught five passes for 62 yards and drew a key pass-interference call in the waning moments of overtime to help seal it.
“It is what it is. People know how I feel about it,” he said, via Dallas Morning-News. “Just follow me on Twitter.”
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Bennett has used his social media account to express his negativity toward Trump. But is there a conflict of interest considering Bennett’s quarterback (Tom Brady), head coach Bill Belichick and — most important — Patriots team owner (Robert Kraft) all have been claimed by the president as close, personal friends?
“I’m not really worried about that,” Bennett said. “I’m not worried about it at all.”
Bennett said the Patriots manage to circumvent any awkwardness in the locker room by sticking to sports.
“You just don’t bring that to work,” he said. “We all have our beliefs. We accept people for who they are.”
And yet Bennett doesn’t have plans to accept Trump for who he is, if his words are to be taken at face value. We wonder if Kraft might step in and convince him otherwise. But then again, Brady skipped out on going to the White House two years ago when the Patriots won it and Barack Obama was president.
If the Patriots are all truly as “all for one” as they claim, Kraft might let Bennett sit at home. And we can only imagine what he’d be doing while his teammates are getting a tour of the house at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington.
More Super Bowl coverage on Yahoo Sports:
• Tom Brady faces Roger Goodell after winning Super Bowl LI
• President Trump holds Super Bowl party
• Slideshow: Best of Lady Gaga’s halftime show
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
