Tom Brady's Deflategate Scandal Resurfaces via Bizarre 'Minions' Tweet

With Tom Brady leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the NFC Championship on Sunday, he quickly took [...]

By John Newby

With Tom Brady leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the NFC Championship on Sunday, he quickly took over several conversations on Twitter. Many fans focused on the quarterback's legacy, but the official Minions Twitter account stunned fans with a bizarre post. The tweet featured Brady kissing a Minions character, referencing a previous controversy.

The now-deleted tweet included the text, "Squeeze us like a deflated football [Tom Brady]." The image, which turned many heads, showing Brady holding and kissing one of his children. However, the Minions character was photoshopped into the bizarre image. The brand's account did ultimately delete the tweet, but it circulated on social media in the form of a screenshot.

"Wow, I did not have the minions dunking on Tom Brady on my 2020 bingo card!" one person commented after seeing the tweet. Several others expressed outrage about the post and called for the "Minions intern" to lose their Twitter privileges for the day. Although a few social media users just laughed about a strange twist to football Sunday.

The "deflated footballs" comment refers to Deflategate, a controversy that created headlines in 2015. The New England Patriots hosted the Indianapolis Colts in the 2014 AFC Championship, winning 45-7. Following the game, allegations surfaced saying that Brady had ordered team employees to deflate the footballs.

The league conducted an investigation and ultimately suspended Brady for the opening four games of the 2015 season. The league also fined the team $1 million and stripped them of two draft picks. Brady appealed the suspension, but NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell upheld it.

The matter was not over, however, considering that the case was moved to federal court. Judge Richard M. Berman vacated Goodell's four-game suspension of Brady and opened the door for him to play the entire 2015 season. Following the season, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reinstated Brady's four-game suspension, forcing him to miss the start of the 2016 season. Although the veteran ultimately led the Patriots to a victory in Super Bowl LI.

"It's a f—ing ridiculous smear campaign," Patriots fan Ben Affleck said in a now-famous 2016 rant. "And Goodell doesn't have the integrity — I want to say, frankly — doesn't have the decency to just say, 'You know what. This is stupid. I was wrong. This is ridiculous. We're running our greatest player ever through this mill of humiliation and shame, which is totally unwarranted, for the sake of our own bruised egos and our embarrassment.'"

0comments
Start the Conversation

of