Add another name to the list of Patriots who do not want to visit Donald Trump’s White House: Chris Long.
Long, the veteran defensive end who just completed his first season with the Patriots, wrote on Twitter that he has been planning to skip the White House visit but hadn’t been asked about it before. Long was responding to Chuck Modiano of the New York Daily News, who wrote an open letter to Long urging him to skip the traditional White House visit. Long confirmed he’s planning to do what Modiano urged him to do, but he took issue with the tone of Modiano’s open letter.
“Oh Chuck. Planned on skipping, hadn’t been asked. Don’t need an open letter explaining my own words to me. Not *joining* anyone. My call,” Long wrote.
Martellus Bennett, Devin McCourty and Dont’a Hightower are other Patriots who have indicated they will not visit the White House while Trump is president. Long is different, however, because he’s white and he comes from a wealthy background with a father who’s a Hall of Famer turned TV commentator. Modiano’s open letter describes white players’ silence about Trump as “pathetic,” and Long’s is the background of someone people might assume would be a Trump supporter.
But Long has often defied what people expect from a jock. This is no different.