2024 Rewind: Former NFL Star Julian Edelman's Talks Being 'Gay' for Tom Brady and Deflating His What?!

This piece is part of EDGE's 2024 Rewind series. We're reaching into our archives and sharing some of our favorite stories from the past year.

Former American football wide receiver Julian Edelman has confused the internet by joking that he is "gay" for his old NFL teammate Tom Brady.

During last night's live Netflix comedy special "The Roast of Tom Brady," comedians including Jeff Ross and Nikki Glaser poked fun at legendary former football quarterback Tom Brady, touching on subjects including his marriage to model Gisele Bündchen, and his ambassadorship for cryptocurrency brand FTX.

Yet one of the oddest quips of the night came from Edelman, who decided to lean into an ongoing joke among NFL fans that he and Brady are "gay" for each other.

Addressing fans' flippant remarks about his sexuality, Edelman said: "I know there's going to be a lot of jokes about me being gay for Tom. Well, let me set the record straight. Those balls weren't going to deflate themselves."

His punchline referenced a 2015 NFL controversy in which it was discovered that Brady was aware that employees of his team, the New England Patriots, had been deflating footballs in order to give the team an advantage.

Brady was suspended for four games, and the team was fined around one million dollars.

While some fans declared Edelman's remark as the "joke of the special", others were left a little more confused by the pun.

"What is going on," demanded one fan on social media, as another simply wrote: "What the f**k."

"The LGBTQ+ community aren't going to like that one," a third added.

Brady and Edelman's relationship has sparked interest for several years, with some people even writing fan fiction about the pair online. In 2022, after Brady announced his retirement from the game, Edelman shared a photo of him on social media alongside the caption, "Thanks for the memories, babe" – further sparking fan theories and jokes.

In addition to quipping about his non-existent romance with Tom Brady, Julian Edelman also made a questionable remark seemingly directed at former NFL player Aaron Hernandez, who died by suicide in 2017.

"Everyone always asks me how big Gronk's [former NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski] d**k is," Edelman began.

"Now don't get me wrong, it gets the job done. But there was this other Patriot's tight end. Now he was hung."

Audible gasps were heard from the crowd following the joke referencing Hernandez, who was convicted of the murder of semi-professional footballer Odin Lloyd in 2015. He took his own life in April 2017, five days after being acquitted of the double homicide of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtad in 2012.

Is NFL player Julian Edelman gay?

Despite joking about being "gay for" Tom Brady, Julian Edelman is publicly straight and has never come out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

He has previously dated Brazilian model Adriana Lima, and has a daughter with Swedish model Ella Rose, who was born in 2016.

"The Roast of Tom Brady" is streaming now on Netflix.