Chris Evans is a man torn between his love of the New England Patriots and distaste of President Donald Trump.
The “Avengers” star said he “might have to cut ties” of support for Tom Brady, and cast doubt on whether he’d ever play him on the big screen, pointing to the quarterback’s rumored backing of Trump.
“I really hope he’s not a Trump supporter,” Evans told The Hollywood Reporter in a candid profile published on Wednesday. “I’m just hoping he’s one of those guys that maybe supported him and now regrets it. Maybe he thought it was going to be different — and even that bothers me — but maybe there’s a chance now he just thinks Trump’s an absolute dumb shit, which he is. If he doesn’t, if he’s still on that Trump train, I might have to cut ties. It’s really tough.”
Evans, who was born and raised around Boston, is a self-admitted superfan of the sports team and regularly shares his enthusiasm on social media. A viral video of him watching the 2017 Super Bowl racked up millions of views on Twitter.
The actor admittedly has never met Brady in person and isn’t sure he’d ever want to because he wants the NFL star to “be the thing I imagine he is.”
But Brady, in particular, has been a hero despite his longtime connection with Trump, which dates back over 15 years. The athlete pledged his support for then-candidate Trump in 2015, saying that it would “be great” if he won the presidency.
A photo of a “Make America Great Again” hat sitting in Brady’s locker, which he later defended as a “keepsake,” seemed to confirm suspicions that he was indeed a Trump supporter.
Evans says that he might’ve tried to use “mental gymnastics” to explain away Brady’s complicity a couple of years ago, but he feels differently now given the current climate.
In a 2017 interview, the actor explained he was giving Brady a pass because “he gave me five rings.”
“I don’t know if I can anymore,” Evans said of defending Brady today. “So I’m just hoping he’s woken up.”
Brady admittedly has distanced himself a bit from Trump since he took office, declaring that he “thought it was great” that players were kneeling to protest racial injustice and describing Trump’s comments on the issue as “divisive.”
Evans says he doesn’t relish in “alienating half your audience” but feels a responsibility to speak out, given his platform, about political issues.
“I’d be disappointed in myself if I didn’t speak up,” he said. “Especially for fear of some monetary repercussion or career damage — that just feels really gross to me.”