Chris Long Reveals He 'Planned On Skipping' Patriots' White House Visit
BOSTON (CBS) -- Patriots defensive end Chris Long finally got to enjoy his first Super Bowl win, but that doesn't mean he's interested in making his first trip to the White House as a champion.
The New York Daily News' Chuck Modiano wrote an "open letter" to Long on Thursday morning, calling for him to "join" his Patriots teammates Martellus Bennett, Devin McCourty, and Dont'a Hightower in their decisions to skip the Patriots' visit to the White House and President Donald Trump. Long fired back at Modiano on Twitter within an hour of the story being published.
While he did confirm that he will not visit the White House, he didn't seem to appreciate Modiano's tone.
"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's tweet reads.
Modiano's "open letter" to Long stems from the defensive end's in-depth comments on San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and his national anthem protests. He supported Kaepernick and his teammates' right to protest but said he would never kneel for the anthem.
Long clearly did not like Modiano's almost patronizing tone in the writer's call for him to join his teammates in protesting the president. He didn't like having his "own words" explained to him by a writer who was ostensibly uninformed about Long's decisions and how he made them. Long didn't seem to appreciate the idea that he couldn't make such a decision on his own, without being asked.
Hightower said on Wednesday that he would skip the Patriots' White House visit, but indicated that he'd simply "been there, done that" rather than his absence would have anything to do with President Trump. Bennett made it clear that he does not support the president, while McCourty said he would not feel accepted in the White House.
Whether or not he's actually "standing up to Trump," Long will be absent along with those three.
