Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady says he has not spoken to former President of the United States Donald Trump in years, in an interview with Variety earlier this week.
Brady and Trump have been linked for several years now. In 2015, when Brady was still with the New England Patriots, reporters photographed a “Make America Great Again” hat in his locker in the midst of Trump’s presidential campaign. The two were also seen golfing together on multiple occasions.
When asked about his current relationship to the 45th president, Brady opened up about his relationship with politics as an NFL quarterback. “I think the press just mischaracterized a lot,” Brady said. “And my personality isn’t ever one to insult anybody. I have plenty of my own flaws. I’m not here to point out anyone else’s flaws. There are things that I agree with. There are things that I don’t. There are things I agree with my wife about. There are things that I don’t.”
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
“I love her to death, but we don’t always see eye to eye,” Brady continued. “I don’t see eye to eye with anyone. And I’m not responsible for what other people say. I’m really responsible for what I say. So if people want to say things that I said or that I’m about, that’s up to them, and I’m not going to respond to all those things all the time either.” Brady was then asked if he was still involved with Trump but he said, “No. I haven’t talked to him in a lot of years.”
Trump and Brady were rumored to have grown apart when Trump took office. Brady skipped out on a trip to the White House to celebrate his Super Bowl victory in 2017, and later called Trump’s response to Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling protest “just divisive.” In 2020, it seemed Trump and Brady had buried the hatchet. During a COVID-19 press conference, Trump said he had just spoken to Brady, calling him a “great guy.”
But according to Brady’s recent comments, that may have been the last time he and Trump have spoken.