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Mike Florio asked a question about PFT Earlier today: How should Bill Belichick’s decision to refuse the Presidential Medal of Freedom be received?
Hall of Fame golfers Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player accepted President Trump’s same tribute to the White House last week, a day after the deadly Capitol riot. Belichick was due to receive his on Thursday.
The Patriots coach issued a carefully worded statement on Monday, declining.
NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith praised the decision and the statement.
“Bill and I don’t exchange a lot of words,” Smith said in a videoconference on Tuesday. “I know this is going to be a shock for everyone. But I thought that certainly his position was, I think, extremely important at this point for a person who has an extremely high profile in the National Football League. Frankly, I thought your statement was right. He referred to being with the players, referred to the conversations that were taking place in his locker room about social justice, and while he acknowledged that it was an award that honored several extremely deserving people in the past, he felt that at this moment, at this moment in history that he must decline. I thought your statement was right. “