--- ---  # New England Patriots Player Reveals Why He Skipped Team Visit to White House  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Apr 20, 2017 3:53 PM UTC  Alan Branch of the New England Patriots looks on before the game against the Los Angeles Rams at Gillette Stadium on December 4, 2016 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Alan Branch of the New England Patriots looks on before the game against the Los Angeles Rams at Gillette Stadium on December 4, 2016 in Foxboro, Massachusetts.Maddie Meyer—Getty Images  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Apr 20, 2017 3:53 PM UTC New England Patriots player Alan Branch said he [chose not to visit President Donald Trump at the White House](http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/20/us/patriots-alan-branch-white-house-don-lemon-cnntv/) to celebrate the team’s Super Bowl win, because he was “sickened” by Trump’s past remarks about women. The 2017 Super Bowl champions visited the White House Wednesday, following the tradition of the President congratulating the winning team. Branch told CNN’s Don Lemon Wednesday night that he declined the invitation because of Trump’s behavior, CNN reported. “It’s disgusting the way that he talks about women, and I just can’t deal with it, and that’s why I have no interest in going and shaking his hand,” Branch told [Lemon](http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/20/us/patriots-alan-branch-white-house-don-lemon-cnntv/). “I’ve gotta go back home and look my daughters in the eye, and I don’t want them to view me in a different light, just because I did that.” > [](https://twitter.com/CNNTonight/status/854885013803982848) Branch said he was offended by Trump’s comments in the 2005 _Access Hollywood_ Tape in which Trump was caught on a hot mic talking about kissing or grabbing a woman’s body without consent. [Trump apologized](http://time.com/4523755/donald-trump-leaked-tape-impact/) the night [the Washington _Post_ released the tape](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-recorded-having-extremely-lewd-conversation-about-women-in-2005/2016/10/07/3b9ce776-8cb4-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4%5Fstory.html?hpid=hp%5Fhp-top-table-main%5Ftrumptape-404pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm%5Fterm=.5ecaf7f644cb). “I don’t understand still to this day, especially with how many women went out there and voted for him,” Branch [told CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/20/us/patriots-alan-branch-white-house-don-lemon-cnntv/). “I’m a man, and I was sickened by that, and it still happened. Everybody has their free choice of who they wanted, but that’s not a person I want to represent me, even though he is. He is President of the United States. He happens to represent me, but I’m not going to go out of my way to go meet the guy when I don’t have to.” [Fewer Patriots players visited Trump](http://time.com/4747333/new-england-patriots-white-house-barack-obama-donald-trump/) than attended the meeting with President Obama in 2015. \[[_CNN_](http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/20/us/patriots-alan-branch-white-house-don-lemon-cnntv/)\] Alan Branch: Patriots Player Skips Donald Trump Visit ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4748402/patriots-alan-branch-donald-trump-visit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4748402/patriots-alan-branch-donald-trump-visit/"},"headline":"New England Patriots Player Reveals Why He Skipped Team Visit to White House","datePublished":"2017-04-20T15:53:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:05:29.829Z","description":"New England Patriots player Alan Branch said he chose not to visit Donald Trump at the White House due to Trump's past remarks about women","url":"https://time.com/4748402/patriots-alan-branch-donald-trump-visit/","keywords":["motto","White House","Superbowl","sexism","Donald Trump","onetime","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt191d108d187b765d/6988c3bb656a3f18f4bcfa5b/alan-branch-patriots-superbowl-donald-trump-sexist-remarks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt191d108d187b765d/6988c3bb656a3f18f4bcfa5b/alan-branch-patriots-superbowl-donald-trump-sexist-remarks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"alan branch patriots superbowl donald trump sexist remarks","caption":"alan branch patriots superbowl donald trump sexist remarks","creditText":"Maddie Meyer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4748402/patriots-alan-branch-donald-trump-visit/","name":"New England Patriots Player Reveals Why He Skipped Team Visit to White House"}}]}] ```