Bill Simmons says he was not surprised by the charges against Robert Kraft because the Patriots owner 'has been going off the rails for a while'
- New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was charged with two counts of soliciting prostitution on Friday.
- CEO of The Ringer and Patriots superfan Bill Simmons explained why he wasn't surprised by the charges against Kraft during a call into ESPN's "Dan Le Batard Show."
- Kraft has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was charged with two counts of soliciting prostitution on Friday in relation to a months-long investigation by Florida police into massage parlors.
According to the police report, one of Kraft's charges stems from a trip to Orchids of Asia on January 20, 2019 - the morning of the AFC Championship game between the Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs. Police say it was Kraft's second visit in less than 24 hours.
Speaking with ESPN's "Dan Le Batard Show," Boston superfan and CEO of The Ringer Bill Simmons said he wasn't surprised by the charges against Kraft.
"This is somebody that has been going off the rails for a while here," Simmons said. "He was married for a long time. His wife died in 2011. And I think he had a really hard time dealing with it and just started acting really strangely - dating people that were 40, 45 years younger than him, going out to Super Bowl parties and Oscar parties."
Simmons continued:
"I always put it in the context of 'if this was my dad, how would I feel?' and you see somebody at these parties, wearing a diamond champions pendent and hanging out with Meek Mill, and he's 78, and you're like, 'What's going on here?'
"I just feel like this was something that was heading towards a weird place for a while. I didn't know how weird it was going to be, but this is pretty weird. I think it might have been a little overblown ... and I'm waiting to see what the actual facts are. With that said, he clearly went there, he clearly was serviced a couple times, and there's video that I hope that none of us ever see."
You can watch Simmons' comments on the show below.
Kraft has pleaded not guilty to the charges and requested a non-jury trial in the case.
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