The New York Times attempted to sour President Donald Trump’s White House ceremony with the Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots. The New York Times Sports twitter account got political with the following tweet comparing the attendance of Wednesday’s Patriots ceremony with President Trump against the New England celebration back in 2015 with President Barack Obama.
Patriots' turnout for President Obama in 2015 vs. Patriots' turnout for President Trump today: https://t.co/OxMEOqZonI pic.twitter.com/pLmJWhOw1j
— NYT Sports (@NYTSports) April 19, 2017
Several news organizations including CNN reported on the photo and the tweet was retweeted over 36,000 times and had more than 50,000 likes.
One problem.
The photo from 2015 included the entire Patriots entourage including all of the staff. The official twitter account of the Patriots corrected the misleading comparison.
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
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 20, 2017
All of the Patriots’ football and administrative staff were seated on the South Lawn this year and not shown in the photo that the New York Times used to contrast the attendance.
The Patriots released a photo that included their staff and it looked much similar to the 2015 White House photo.
In 2015, 50 Patriots players visited the White House compared to 34 in 2017. Patriots spokesman Stacey James made the point that many of the Patriots have won multiple Super Bowls and already visited the White House. He also stated that White House ceremonies between 2002 and 2005 decreased.
“When you win two [Super Bowls] in three years, fewer people go than one in 10 years,” James said.
The Patriots compared the last time the franchise won two Super Bowls in three years.
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
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 20, 2017
“It’s just the way it goes,” the spokesman said. “It’s a long day. It’s a cool thing you do once — maybe you do it twice — but it’s just not necessarily something you choose to do every time. We had people today who were attending funerals, who were sick — it wasn’t political; it’s just life.”
There is no question that players skipped the White House visit because they disagreed with President Trump’s politics. Players such as Martellus Bennett, Devin McCourty, Chris Long, LaGarrette Blount, Don’t’a Hightower, and Alan Branch all said they were going to pass up the tradition of visiting the White House because they are not fans of President Trump.
Tom Brady said he skipped the visit because of “personal family matters.”
Rob Gronkowski was definitely at the White House; crashing Sean Spicer’s press briefing and fist-bumping the President in the Oval Office.
.@POTUS @realDonaldTrump and Patriots @RobGronkowski prior to @WhiteHouse ceremony honoring the Super Bowl LI Champions. pic.twitter.com/gpPUABTINa
— Dan Scavino Jr. Archived (@Scavino45) April 19, 2017
The tweet by the New York Times was purposely deceitful and is sure to only embolden President Trump’s #FakeNews cries against certain media outlets.