Rolling Stone‘s report on Aaron Hernandez was harshly critical of the Patriots. Unsurprisingly, the Patriots say Rolling Stone‘s reporting got many facts wrong.
Patriots President Jonathan Kraft went on the offensive in an interview with 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, saying that the Rolling Stone report had multiple factual errors.
Specifically, the Rolling Stone claim that Hernandez had told Patriots coach Bill Belichick that he feared for his life because of contacts with unsavory characters, and that Belichick “told him to lay low, rent a safe house for a while,” was strongly disputed by Kraft, who says he spoke to Belichick about it.
“Bill told me, ‘Absolutely not. Aaron never told me his life was in danger,’” Kraft said, via Greg A. Bedard of TheMMQB.com.
Kraft also said Belichick did not threaten to cut Hernandez, and that Belichick was not the person who hired the Patriots’ security chief, who also comes in for criticism in the Rolling Stone piece.
“The stuff I know about the article is just completely factually inaccurate,” Kraft said.
Belichick has not spoken publicly about the Rolling Stone report. He will meet the media late Thursday night, after the Patriots’ preseason finale.