Giants legend Lawrence Taylor takes on Donald Trump at New Jersey rally as Hall of Famer admits he was “always a Democrat until I met this man.”
- Taylor said he had been a Democrat his whole life 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 always was a Democrat until I met this man here,” Taylor, 65, told Trump supporters at an event countryside along the Jersey Shore on Saturday. “He won’t have to worry about anyone in my family voting for a Democrat again.”
Taylor is a beloved figure in New Jersey, where he helped lead the East Rutherford-based New York Giants to two Super Bowl titles during his decorated — and troubled — NFL career.
It’s unclear exactly when he and Trump first met, although the real estate mogul owned a USFL team in the 1980s that shared a stadium with Taylor’s New York Giants.
Taylor was joined on stage by his former teammate, retired running back Otis Anderson.
Taylor (in brown) is pictured alongside Trump and his former Giants teammate Ottis Anderson.
Former NFL football player Lawrence Taylor arrives in Wildwood Beach on Saturday for Republican presidential candidate former U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign rally.
“You don’t like this guy?” » asked Anderson, referring to Trump. “You don’t like this guy?” I tell you it was a very exciting day. Guys, there’s no one left here. You’re still out there yelling and screaming.
Taylor’s support comes with some controversy, although Trump didn’t seem to mind on Saturday.
The passer extraordinaire faced personal issues off the football field, during and after his career, which ended in 1993. In one incident in 1995, the retired Taylor choked the reporter longtime Giants manager 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 spent at least two stints in rehab. He was also arrested following a 2009 hit-and-run accident in the Miami area, but no one was injured.
Former US President Donald Trump, Republican presidential candidate, speaks on Saturday
Lawrence Taylor (left) and Ottis Anderson (right) appear at Mar-a-Lago in 2021
One of the most feared passers in NFL history, Taylor is now a registered sex offender.
He was arrested the following year and later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor sexual misconduct and sex with an underage prostitute. He was sentenced to six years of probation, but was eventually arrested in 2022 for failing to report a change of address.
Taylor remained in the public eye after her retirement, appearing on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” in 2009 and alongside Al Pacino in 1999’s “Any Given Sunday.”
An avid golfer, Taylor has been hosted at several Trump country clubs and was pictured on the company’s Facebook page alongside Anderson at Mar-a-Lago in 2021.
Trump’s “Fabulous World of Golf” show — a Golf Channel show that ran for two seasons — included an episode with Taylor and San Francisco 49ers legend Jerry Rice.
