New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart surprised everyone by walking onto the stage at a political rally in Rockland County. “What an honor. What a privilege it is to be here. Without further ado, I’m grateful, I’m honored, and I’m pleasured to introduce the 45th and 47th President of the United States of America, President Donald J. Trump,” he said. Trump gave his flowers, saying the rookie quarterback is a “future Hall of Famer.” But praise is not all that he received; Dart might not have anticipated it, but a storm followed right after he stepped off the stage.

The appearance triggered heavy backlash across social media around the NFL world. Fans criticized Dart for publicly associating himself with a political rally. As things took an extreme turn for the quarterback, he found support from FOX reporters, who called out these double standards.

“Seems like there’s a double standard, guys—you can be a liberal and introduce your president, but I guess you can’t be a football player and introduce Trump?” said FOX & Friends Weekend’s co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy, reported on TV News Now’s X account.

“He didn’t say anything political! Had he said something political, then they would be attacking substance. He just did the introduction because he’s a football star in New York and this was a New York event,” said Griff Jenkins, who co-hosts FOX & Friends Weekend.

However, that being said, according to the New York Post, the Giants organization itself was also caught off guard by the appearance. They apparently learnt about it only around 30 minutes before the event began. The bigger issue internally was not just Dart attending the rally itself. But the fact that he tied the franchise into the appearance, with the “Big Blue Nation” and “Go Big Blue” references during the introduction.

“This was not a Giants pep rally,” Schwartz wrote. “There was no need for him to interject anything about his team.”

Dart’s teammate and Giants’ linebacker, Abdul Carter, also took a subtle shot at him through his X post and wrote, “Thought this s—t was AI, what we doing man?”

While his teammates called him out, Dart found support from a former Steelers player.

Former Steelers player criticizes Abdul Carter for his comments

Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Breiden Fehoko called out Carter for going against his teammate, instead of standing with him.

“Abdul Carter is an idiot,” wrote Breiden Fehoko on X. “It don’t matter what political beliefs you believe in you don’t call out a teammate publicly for his beliefs. Out of all people to talk.”

The linebacker seems to have heard Fehoko’s words and made peace with the QB. In his latest X update, Carter mentioned that he and Dart have spoken, and everything is good between them.

“Me & JD6 are good! We spoke earlier as Men. Y’all can keep y’all narratives,” wrote Abdul Carter on X.

It’s crucial to remember that sports and politics are different. Sports bring people closer, and do not consider political affiliation, and it’s better to keep it that way.