TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Tom Brady was recently under fire after comments on his “Let’s Go!” podcast went viral Monday.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion and current Tampa Bay Buccaneer’s quarterback compared competing in the NFL to military deployment and people were quick to react.
“You know — and you feel certainly me being 45,” Brady said to Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant, who was a guest on the podcast. “Now, it’s like, do I just think the same way? Do I still? I almost look at like a football season, like you’re going away on deployment here and military. And it’s like, man, here I go again.”
After facing some backlash for the comment, Brady issued an apology during Thursday’s press conference.
As soon as Brady stepped up to the podium, he asked if he could say something quickly before taking questions.
“Before we start, can I say one thing?,” he asked. “Earlier this week, I made a statement about playing football and the military and it was a very poor choice of words. I want to express that to any sentiments out there that people may have taken it in a certain way. I apologize.”
Later on during the press conference, Brady was asked what he meant by his comment about comparing an NFL season to the military and he stated: “To be honest, I don’t really want to expand on it too much. I just have a tremendous amount of gratitude for everyone who served and you know, in the end we play a game and the military’s defending our country. It’s two very different things and I shouldn’t have made the comparison.”
The rest of the press conference continued on without any further discussion of his comment and Brady ended the discussion by jokingly saying “no retirement in my future,” at least – we think it was a joke.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-3) will face the Carolina Panthers (1-4) at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.
