Tom Brady said that Donald Trump asked him to speak at the 2016 Republican National Convention. The NFL quarterback said that he’s tried to stay out of politics but has a relationship with President Trump. In an interview with the Howard Stern show on Wednesday, Brady explained his struggle to stay out of politics in spite of his friendship with the president, People reported.
“Yeah, he wanted me to speak at the convention, too, and I wasn’t going to do anything political,” Brady said.
Stern said that Trump had also asked him to speak at the convention, as he also has a friendship with the president.
“In 2002, after I won my first Super Bowl, he asked me to go judge a Miss USA competition, which I thought was the coolest thing in the world because I was 24 years old and had a chance to do something like that,” the former Patriots quarterback said.
After that initial meeting, Brady said that Trump would call him after games and even invite him out to play golf. Brady explained that Trump has a way of connecting with people, and he would often stand on the sideline at Patriots game and cheer for the team.
When Trump started getting more political, Brady said that he didn’t like the way their relationship got scrutinized.
“Then the whole political aspect came, and I think I got brought into a lot of those things because it was so polarizing around the election time,” Brady said.
The Super Bowl champion added that it’s difficult to undo those relationships once they’re formed, saying that political support and the support of a friend are not the same. Brady then elaborated on his feelings about modern-day politics.
He said that he felt that politics had become something divisive and was no longer about bringing people together. The NFL star added that from his perspective as an athlete, part of the goal of being on a team is to get along with everyone in spite of your differences. He said that politics often has the opposite effect.
Stern also asked Brady how his teammates had reacted when it was first reported that Brady had a relationship with Trump. In 2016, he told reporters that Trump was “a friend” after the Access Hollywood tape leaked, and a year earlier, a “Make America Great Again” hat was spotted in his locker. Brady said that the reporting on the relationships didn’t bother his teammates, in part because they know him.