How Tom Brady's friendship with Donald Trump turned 'uncomfortable' during 2016 US presidential campaign

Tom Brady has never denied the close personal friendship that he had with former United States President Donald Trump. Their relationship started long before Trump officially entered politics and back when Brady was a young quarterback with the New England Patriots still trying to make a name for himself in the NFL.

Trump and Brady reportedly formed a friendship back in 2002. It started shortly after Brady helped the Patriots win their first of six Super Bowl rings together and he was named the MVP of the game.

Trump invited Brady to judge one of his Miss America pageants that he ran. After Brady accepted, their relationship began.

They reportedly remained relatively close, mostly going out to play golf together, but their relationship was never really public news until the infamous Deflategate scandal in 2015.

Trump publicly supported Brady during the investigation, taking his side that he was innocent in the entire situation and also announcing their close friendship.

This was around the same time that Donald Trump was running for President ahead of the 2016 election. Things started to go south around this time between him and Tom Brady, at least from public perception, according to The Sporting News.

The fallout between Donald Trump and Tom Brady

Tom Brady and Donald Trump, Image Credit: CBS News

Tom Brady was spotted with a red "Make America Great Again" hat, an iconic symbol of MAGA and the Trump campaign, in his locker during a postgame interview during the 2015 NFL season. While Brady confirmed his friendship with Trump and supported him in the running for President, he denied necessarily endorsing him and refused to confirm who he voted for.

From this point forward, Tom Brady grew tired of the endless questioning he would face during every interview and press conference about his stance on Donald Trump. He constantly stuck with the general explanation that they had been friends for a long time, but that had nothing to do with his political stance, nor would he discuss his opinions specifically.

During one of his presidential rallies, Trump announced that Brady would be endorsing and voting for him, despite his claim that he advised him not to do so publicly. It's unclear whether or not Trump's claim is true, as Brady declined to confirm or deny it officially.

Their relationship continued to take hits publicly as time went on. Brady tried to balance a friendship with Trump without taking a polarizing political stand, which proved extremely difficult. Trump reportedly grew frustrated with Brady over time for not having his back publicly like he did when Brady was going through Deflategate.

In 2017 following the Patriots' Super Bowl victory over the Atlanta Falcons, several players protested against the idea of visiting the White House, which has been a long tradition in the NFL. Donald Trump reportedly grew angry when he learned that Tom Brady was one of the players planning not to attend. Trump was worried it would make him look bad.

Later that year, Trump again became frustrated with Brady when the quarterback publicly disagreed with his stance on banning kneeling during the National Anthem. The two reportedly cut ties from that point forward, at least publicly, but their friendship status remains unknown.

Donald Trump went on Twitter in 2019 to support the Patriots ahead of their Super Bowl matchup against the Los Angeles Rams. Tom Brady declined to comment on the support. But a year later, as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he discussed his relationship with Trump in an interview with Howard Stern.

Tom Brady explained that supporting a friend is much different than supporting a presidential candidate or political view, which made things uncomfortable, especially publicly, between him and Donald Trump.

Brady claims he wasn't willing to take a polarizing public stance but again refused to comment on whether or not he still has a private friendship with Trump.