Martellus Bennett helped the New England Patriots win a Super Bowl championship on Sunday, but he will not be joining the team on their visit to the White House to be honored by President Donald Trump later this year.
“I haven’t thought about it,” the Patriots’ tight end told reporters after the game. “But I’m not going to go. Nah.”
When pressed about his reasoning, Bennett explained, “I’m just not going to come. I mean, I’ll elaborate later on in life, but like right now, I’m just trying to enjoy this right now.”
Bennett has been an outspoken supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement and criticized Kanye West’s visit with Trump, tweeting, “So Kanye didn’t take the time to vote. And he holding on to Trumps coattail like Peter Pettigrew to Lord Voldemort.” Bennett was also photographed raising a fist during the national anthem earlier this season, which many took to be a show of solidarity with San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick who received a backlash for kneeling during the anthem.
Bennett hinted at his reluctance to visit Trump at the White House last week according to the Detroit Free Press.
“I don’t know. I’ve got to win the Super Bowl first, but most likely no,” he said. “I don’t—that’s not—I don’t support the guy that’s in the house.”
Bennett’s stance puts him at odds with Patriots owner Robert Kraft, coach Bill Belichik, and quarterback Tom Brady, who Trump counts among his supporters. During the campaign, Trump read from a letter of support sent to him by Belichick and quoted from a purported phone call with Brady. A “Make America Great Again” hat was spotted in Brady’s locker in September. Yesterday, the President tweeted, “What an amazing comeback and win by the Patriots. Tom Brady, Bob Kraft and Coach B are total winners. Wow!”
Yesterday, Bennett made it clear that he was not worried about potential repercussions with the Patriots management. “I’m not really worried about that. I’m not worried about it all,” he explained to reporters. “Whatever I wanna do, they believe in that. So I ain’t really worried about that.”