‘Everybody Has Their Own Choice’: Tom Brady Says He’s Fine With Teammates Skipping White House

Six New England Patriots have announced plans to skip the White House ceremony honoring the team later this year. Four of the six have cited President Donald Trump or other political reasons as affecting their decision not to attend.

Three longtime stalwarts of the team, owner Robert Kraft, coach Bill Belichick, and quarterback Tom Brady are all friends with the 45th President. On Tuesday, Brady said that despite his friendship with Trump, he personally isn’t bothered by his teammates who are opting not to attend.

Speaking with Pro Football Talk, Brady referenced the fact that he missed the 2015 ceremony in explaining why he isn’t upset by others doing the same this year.

“Everybody has their own choice,” Brady said. “There’s certain years, like a couple years ago, I wanted to go and didn’t get the opportunity based on the schedule — we didn’t get told until I think like 10 days before we were going, and at that point I had something I’d been planning for months and couldn’t get there.”

Brady said that he doesn’t consider the ceremony to be political in nature, even though several of his teammates have cited politics as their reason for not attending.

“Putting politics aside, it never was a political thing,” Brady said. “At least, it never was to me. It meant you won a championship and you got to experience something cool with your team, with your teammates.”

Watch above, via NBC Sports and Pro Football Talk.

[featured image via screengrab]

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