Tom Brady on backing Donald Trump: 'I support all of my friends'
Tom Brady has been fed Donald Trump-related questions for months, since a "Make America Great Again" hat was found in his locker. He's maintained that the Republican presidential candidate -- whose campaign is becoming more divisive by the day -- is a close friend and that he's supporting his push for presidency.
Asked on Tuesday morning, for the first time since Trump made his boldest anti-Muslim comments yet, the New England Patriots quarterback again declined to distance himself from the campaign.
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"Can I just stay out of this debate?" Brady initially answered with a laugh on his weekly spot on WEEI in Boston.
%shareLinks-quote="Donald is a good friend of mine. I have known him for a long time. I support all my friends. That is what I have to say. He's a good friend of mine. He's always been so supportive of me ... He's always invited me to play golf. I've always enjoyed his company." type="quote" author="Tom Brady" authordesc="Patriots QB" isquoteoftheday="false"%
"I support all my friends in everything they do," he reiterated later. "I think it's pretty remarkable what he's achieved in his life. You're going from business, kind of an incredible business man and then a TV star, and then getting into politics. It's a pretty different career path. I think that is pretty remarkable."
Brady's answer comes a week after Deadspin offered up a cash reward to the reporter who'd ask Brady where he stands on Trump's plan to ban all Muslims from America.
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Brady had previously tried to backtrack on his support for Trump in September, suggesting that the media had been making this a larger deal than it should've been.
"A comment like that, I try to have fun with certain things," he said. "But some things a lot of times they get taken out of context. So I think you are just more careful with what you say because you don't want a big headline with you saying something that's going to take the attention away from your teammates or what you're trying to do."
After repeatedly neglecting to denounce comments that several athletes have spoken out against, it's easy to understand why Brady's Trump support is a topic of conversation. So as much as the quarterback would like this to be a non-story, it'll be one as long as he keeps Trump in his inner circle.
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