- Taylor claimed he was a lifelong Democrat until he met the former president
- In addition to Taylor, retired Giants running back Ottis Anderson was also in attendance
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Lawrence Taylor was a lifelong Democrat. And then the Hall-of-Fame linebacker met Donald Trump.
“I just wanted to say that I grew up a Democrat and I’ve always been a Democrat until I met this man here,” Taylor, 65, told Trump supporters Saturday at a campaign event along the Jersey Shore. “He doesn’t have to worry that no one in my family will ever vote for a Democrat again.”
Taylor is a beloved figure in New Jersey, where he helped lead the East Rutherford-based New York Giants to a pair of Super Bowl titles during his decorated – and troubled – NFL career.
It is unclear when he and Trump first met, although the real estate mogul did own a USFL team that shared a stadium with Taylor’s New York Giants in the 1980s.
Taylor was joined on stage by his former teammate, retired running back Otis Anderson.
Taylor (in maroon) is pictured next to Trump and his ex-Giants teammate Ottis Anderson
Former NFL football player Lawrence Taylor arrives for a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate, former US President Donald Trump, in Wildwood Beach on Saturday
“Don’t you just love that guy?” Anderson asked, referring to Trump. “Don’t you just love that guy? I can tell you it was a very exciting day. Guys, there’s not one person left here. You’re still out here yelling and screaming.”
Taylor’s support comes with some controversy, not that Trump seemed to mind on Saturday.
The pass rusher extraordinaire has struggled with personal issues off the football field, both during and after his career, which ended in 1993. In a 1995 incident, retired Taylor choked former Giants reporter Ernie Palladino after a verbal altercation.
In addition to numerous drug-related arrests, the former University of North Carolina star declared bankruptcy in 1998 and has been to rehab at least twice. He was also arrested after an accident in the Miami area in 2009, although no one was injured.
The Republican presidential candidate, former US President Donald Trump, will speak on Saturday
He was arrested the following year and later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of sexual misconduct and sex with an underage prostitute. He was placed on probation for six years, but was eventually arrested in 2022 for failing to report a change of address.
Taylor has remained in the public eye since his retirement, appearing on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” in 2009 and co-starring with Al Pacino in “Any Given Sunday” in 1999.
An avid golfer, Taylor has been a guest at several Trump country clubs and was pictured with Anderson on the company’s Facebook page at Mar-a-Lago in 2021.
Trump’s “Fabulous World of Golf” — a Golf Channel show that ran for two seasons — included an episode with Taylor of San Francisco 49ers legend Jerry Rice.
