Jaxson Dart addresses Giants locker room after Trump introduction fallout

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: With political tensions simmering behind the scenes, New York Giants star Jaxson Dart made attempts to repair the fractured locker room as he called for a closed-door meeting to address the political elephant in the room.

The 23-year-old New York Giants quarterback has been in hot water since he introduced President Donald Trump at a campaign-style rally for Republican Rep Mike Lawler in Suffern, New York.

“I'm grateful, I'm honored, I'm pleased to introduce the 45th and 47th president of the United States of America, President Donald J Trump,” he said at the event.

The move didn’t just spark backlash from NFL fans but also proved to be divisive enough to fracture opinions within the Giants themselves.

Dart’s teammate Abdul Carter voiced his disbelief on X, saying he initially mistook the video for an AI creation before bluntly asking, “What are we doing?”

Jaxson Dart clears air on Trump introduction controversy

Although Carter later sought to downplay the situation by saying he and Dart “are good,” signs suggested the controversy continued to simmer behind the scenes.

To stop the alleged civil war, Dart addressed his teammates during a meeting on Wednesday, according to NFL insiders Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport.

The 23-year-old Dart reportedly organized the closed-door meeting to address the fallout from introducing Trump, with both he and his teammates ultimately agreeing to move forward.

Other team leaders, including Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Dart's fellow quarterback Jameis Winston, also reportedly spoke.

One of the things discussed at the meeting was keeping issues “internal” rather than sharing grievances publicly, according to ESPN.

Ahead of the meeting, offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor insisted in an X post Saturday that the “Locker Room is fine.”

Trump reacts to backlash against Jaxson Dart

The controversy extended well beyond the Giants locker room, with The View co-host Joy Behar publicly criticizing Dart and labeling the NFL player "stupid" and "racist" over the move.

“For somebody to back a guy like Trump, whose history in discrimination and racism goes back to housing discrimination in the '70s, DEI attacks, and posting pictures of the Obamas as apes... when he's on a team that's 55 to 60 percent of the NFL, that much percentage of black people, that is just the definition of stupidity and racist in my opinion,” she alleged.

However, President Trump jumped to Dart’s support, saying “So when Jaxson gets harassed a little bit, he's also loved more because we have more people than they do.”

"He said, 'I love you, sir.' And I didn't know he was doing it. But he's potentially a great quarterback. He's a young boy... but when he's in a game, he moves the team. ... I watched him a little bit, and he really moves the team. He's got tremendous potential. If he stays healthy, he's going to be great,” he was seen saying in a preview of his interview with daughter-in-law Lara for the Fox News show "My View."