Rob Gronkowski Addresses Patriots 'Slight': Fans React

Rob Gronkowski took some heat for not mentioning the New England Patriots in his retirement message last month. This week, he's correcting the mistake.

At a recent event, Gronkowski said that he felt the criticism was unfair since he did reference the Patriots in his first retirement back in 2019. He made it clear that he loves New England and that the alleged "slight" was blown out of proportion.

“I think it’s a little blown out of proportion,” Gronkowski said, via NESN.com. “I mean, I kind of did it when, you know, my first retirement.

“There’s no doubt I love New England. I love all the fans here in New England. There’s no doubt,” Gronkowski said. “But I felt like that speech or whatever, the time and place I did for the first one was great, and I was just kind of giving it for that retirement for the two years I had in Tampa. But I think it was blown out of proportion maybe a little. But I love New England, love everything about it.”

Rob Gronkowski retired in 2019 as the greatest tight end in the history of the organization and one of the best of all-time. He came out of retirement in 2020 to enjoy one last run with Tom Brady - and got his fourth ring in the process.

Patriots fans should know that Gronkowski harbors no ill will towards their team. 

"Apparently I'm the only Pats fan who agrees with Gronk's line of reasoning here. He said goodbye to NE on the first one, played two seasons in TB, and retired again. Seems fitting that the second one should only mention TB," one fan tweeted.

Not everyone feels that way, though.

"He and Tom Brady have spit in patriots's face since they left the organization, nothing new here," another fan added.

Was the Gronkowski "slight" as big of a deal as people say it was?