Yahoo Sports Rob Gronkowski Says He Preferred Super Bowl Celebration At Trump White House For 1 Reason
Rob Gronkowski made it to the White House multiple times to be honored with teammates for Super Bowl victories ― but the former tight end said President Donald Trump hosted the best visit. And for one eyebrow-raising reason.
Comparing trips to Barack Obama’s White House in 2015 and Trump’s in 2017, he told HuffPost on Wednesday: “I would say Trump did it better because there was no rules and regulations. He allowed us to go anywhere in the White House, which was really cool so we got to really see basically everything.”
Gronkowski said Obama “did a great job” in welcoming him, but Trump’s hospitality won out.
“I didn’t really know that there was so much more to see until the Trump era when he let us into the Oval Office,” he said. The five-time Pro Bowler said he also got to touch the famous red button on Trump’s desk, “which, I don’t know, is the panic button or whatever it was.”
It was likely Trump’s red button for summoning a Diet Coke. (The drink button has returned in his second term, according to Vice President JD Vance.)
Gronkowski, now a Fox Sports NFL analyst, was making the media rounds on behalf of Bounty and the paper towel brand’s pre-Super Bowl commercial he did with quarterback great Drew Brees. Now Gronk says he keeps a pallet stacked with boxes of Bounty at home that are parting gifts for guests.
While he made no mention of swag he might have received for his White House visits, he certainly earned a viral moment in 2017.
Gronkowski’s freedom to wander apparently led to hijinks with then-press secretary Sean Spicer as he conducted a briefing.
“Need some help?” Gronkowski asked as he poked his head into the room.
“I think I got this, but thank you,” Spicer replied.
“A classic,” Gronkowski recalled.
In a 2015 visit with Obama in charge, Gronkowski famously pretended to take his shirt off for the president.
“I told him to keep his shirt on,” Obama said in his speech. “He asked me what would happen if he took it off. I said Secret Service probably wouldn’t like it. He said, ‘What could they do to me?’”
Gronkowski said he missed celebrating at Joe Biden’s White House in 2021 because he got short notice and had a scheduling conflict.
It was the fourth Super Bowl he won with Brady (who won seven total) ― but their first and only with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after winning the others with the New England Patriots.
In 2019, the Patriots won the title but the team could not work out time conflicts with the Trump White House after several players had already said they would not visit. Some expressed personal objections to visiting the president.
