A Few Patriots Players Are Skipping The Team's White House Visit Because Of Trump

Two black New England Patriots players are eschewing tradition and turning down President Donald Trump's invitation to visit the White House following the team's Super Bowl victory this past weekend.

The reason? Trump himself.

"I'm not going to the White House," free safety Devin McCourty told Time on Monday. "Basic reason for me is I don't feel accepted in the White House. With the president having so many strong opinions and prejudices I believe certain people might feel accepted there while others won't."

McCourty joins Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett, who's been openly against Trump and had said last week that he'd skip the visit if his team won.

"It is what it is," Bennett told the Dallas Morning News Sunday night after the Patriots' shocking victory, confirming his decision to skip the visit. "People know how I feel about it."

Bennett and McCourty's views could not be more different than those of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, head coach Bill Belichick, and owner Robert Kraft. The three men are all friends with Trump, according to Mic, and Brady even kept a "Make America Great Again" hat in his locker.

Brady famously skipped his team's visit to the White House back in 2015. He chalked his absence up to a prior family commitment, but others believe Brady purposefully played hooky in protest of a comment made by then-Press Secretary John Earnest.

"For years it’s been clear that there is no risk that I was going to take Tom Brady’s job as quarterback of the New England Patriots. But I can tell you, as of today, it’s pretty clear that there’s no risk of him taking my job either," Earnest said, taking a jab at the press conference in which Brady denied his involvement in Deflategate.

The date of the Patriots' White House visit hasn't even been announced yet, leaving plenty of time for other players to join Bennett and McCourty's protest.