This week, the New England Patriots visited the White House, a perk that the Super Bowl winners get to enjoy each year. Some of the players, like quarterback Tom Brady, did not attend and the “New York Times” immediately jumped at the chance to make Donald Trump look bad. And boy, did it backfire.
The “New York Times” kicked off the embarrassment by sending a tweet meant to show that far more Patriots players visited the White House when they won under the Obama administration in 2015, versus now.
The tweet not only got ripped apart, but it got a harsh response from none other than the New England Patriots themselves.
These photos lack context. Facts: In 2015, over 40 football staff were on the stairs. In 2017, they were seated on the South Lawn. https://t.co/iIYtV0hR6Y
Brady also pointed out that he has missed the traditional White House visit before and that his not going was not a specific snub against Donald Trump. The Patriots also tweeted a more accurate photo, proving that the New York Times was intentionally misrepresenting the situation.
Comparable photos: The last time the #Patriots won two Super Bowls in three years, 36 players visited the White House. Today, we had 34. pic.twitter.com/Aslvf1RaXU
But incredibly, the “New York Times” actually did the right thing here — they admitted their mistake and apologized. Wow. Sports Editor Jason Stallman released a statement in which he flat-out said that he had been an “idiot.”
NYT Sports editor gave me a pretty effusive statement on that Trump/Patriots-crowd-size-comparison tweet: pic.twitter.com/yrvyuCPybp
What could have prevented this entire mess is if the “New York Times” had just been responsible to begin with and not so eager to embarrass Trump. In John Hawkins’ new book ‘101 Things All Young Adults Should Know’, he teaches in Chapter 24, don’t put anything on social media you would be uncomfortable with the whole world seeing.