Patriots player says he ‘would not have gone’ to the White House if asked

Former New England Patriots cornerback Johnson Bademosi said Friday that he would not have visited the White House, even if his team had won the Super Bowl. 

During a visit to Maya Angelou Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., Bademosi counted himself among the professional athletes who have boycotted White House visits because of President Trump. 

“I definitely would not have gone,” he said, according to USA Today. “Politics aside, I disagree with a lot that is going on. I got to meet the previous president a number of times. He was warm and welcoming and it just doesn’t seem that way at the moment.”

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Bademosi signed with the Houston Texans in March, but was on the Patriots team that was defeated by the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII in February. 

He was joined on Friday by Eagles’s safety Malcolm Jenkins, who has been outspoken in his criticism of Trump since he abruptly cancelled the team’s celebratory visit to the White House.

Trump has carried on numerous feuds with professional athletes over the issue of player protests. The president called for team owners and coaches to fire players who knelt in protest during the national anthem at professional sports games, igniting a hailstorm of backlash from players in the NFL and NBA.

The demonstrations began in 2016 with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who knelt during the anthem to protest racial inequality and police brutality toward African-Americans.

Trump, however, has deemed the on-field protests unpatriotic, and has insisted that they are insulting to U.S. military servicemembers and veterans.

NFL officials announced a new policy last month requiring players to stand for the anthem or remain in their locker rooms during the song, facing fines if they were to ignore the rules.