Tom Brady finally comes clean and admits to Deflategate with hilarious message to the NFL

It took the best part of a decade and a comedy roast for Tom Brady to tell the truth, but the ex-New England Patriots quarterback has finally opened up about the infamous ‘Deflategate’ scandal that rocked the NFL. Netflix’s ‘Roast of Tom Brady’ show will go down as one of the best yet, with a series of hilarious jokes from Kevin Hart complimented by Brady’s own material.

Speaking at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, the 46-year-old got up on stage as he tackled several subjects, from his career with the Patriots to mocking their rivals, the Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts.

But the seven-time Super Bowl winner drew the biggest applause of the night when refering to ‘Deflategate’, which dates back to 2015 when Brady was accused of deflating footballs to gain an advantage during the NFL playoffs.

When the NFL initially began their investigation in 2015, Patriots quarterback Brady initially referred to the accusations as “ridiculous”, while Patriots coach Bill Belichick denied having any knowledge of it happening.

After years of denials, the future Hall of Famer appear to confess to his role in the controversy when he was given the chance to roast people in the show, which was aired on Sunday night.

“Remember Deflategate? The NFL spent $20million and found that it was more ‘probable than not’ that I was ‘generally aware’ and someone may have deflated my footballs,” Brady said.

“You could have just given me the $20m and I would have just told you I f***ing did it. You know what I’m saying boys? You know what I’m saying?”

What was ‘Deflategate’ and why was Brady punished?

The joke may have gone down well with the crowd, with some members of the audience rising to give him a standing ovation. But at the time, there was outrage at Brady’s alleged cheating.

The Patriots were accused of allegedly ordering footballs to be tampered with for the 2014 AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts on January 18, 2015. Removing air from a football makes it easier to grip, throw, and catch, and teams had suspected Brady was benefiting from this illegal advantage.

The NFL hired attorney Ted Wells to look into the allegations and after four months, he concluded with a 243-page report that the Patriots equipment had deliberately circumvented the rules.

The controversy resulted in Brady being suspended for four games, while the team was fined $1m and forfeited two selections in the 2016 NFL Draft.