NFL star quarterback Tom Brady was forced to leave a Tampa Bay, Florida park on Monday when an employee spotted him working out during the Wuhan coronavirus closure.
Tampa Bay Mayor Jane Castor initiated a slight hysteria after saying Brady was “sighted” by park staff, which many media outlets interpreted as “cited.”
In the following interview, Castor explains how a park staff member on patrol spotted Brady and asked him to leave.
“Our parks are closed down, and so a lot of our parks staff, they patrol around just to make sure that people aren’t doing contact sports and things like that, and saw an individual working out in one of our downtown parks,” Castor says.
Tom Brady may have won six Super Bowls, but like the rest of us, he’s just trying to find a place to work out. Tampa mayor @JaneCastor said in today’s briefing that a @tampaparksrec employee approached a man working out downtown and told him the park was closed. It was @TomBrady. pic.twitter.com/etrPdrrGsN
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) April 20, 2020
Following the interview, many headlines reading “Tom Brady Cited” began to spread throughout the internet, prompting the city of Tampa to respond on Twitter.
“SIGHTED!” the city wrote. “To clear up any confusion, Buccaneers QB TomBrady was SIGHTED in one of our 194 beautiful parks. He was not cited as some media outlets have reported. We are excited to welcome Tom & everyone back to all of our parks once we have punted COVID-19 downfield!”
👀 SIGHTED! 👀
To clear up any confusion, @Buccaneers QB @TomBrady was SIGHTED in one of our 194 beautiful parks. He was not cited as some media outlets have reported.We are excited to welcome Tom & everyone back to all of our parks once we have punted COVID-19 downfield! 🏈 pic.twitter.com/EH13MmlAgx
— City of Tampa (@CityofTampa) April 21, 2020
The city told Brady they “can’t wait to welcome you and our entire community back,” and then asked him to obey their stay-at-home mandate in the future, adding, “until then, stay safe and stay home as much as you can to help flatten the curve.”
Sorry @TomBrady! Our @tampaparksrec team can’t wait to welcome you and our entire community back with even bigger smiles — until then, stay safe and stay home as much as you can to help flatten the curve. https://t.co/qRhReqqdK0
— City of Tampa (@CityofTampa) April 21, 2020
Brady is new to Florida, moving to the state after signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers following a 20-year career with the New England Patriots.
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