New England Patriots rookie Justin Rohrwasser is trying to make the controversy surrounding him go away as soon as possible.
Rohrwasser, a kicker the Pats took in the fifth round (159th overall) of Saturday’s 2020 NFL Draft, told WBZ-TV in Boston on Monday that the controversial tattoo doesn’t represent who he is and he plans to get it removed. He previously stated that he would get the tattoo covered.
The tattoo is a symbol linked to The Three Percenters, a far-right militia movement and paramilitary group, with the Roman numeral III and 13 stars encircled around it. Rohrwasser told Burton he didn’t know what the logo symbolized until it was pointed out Saturday on social media.
“As soon as I saw what it was linked to on Saturday, it was exactly that time I knew I had to get it totally taken off my body,” Rohrwasser said. “I said cover it up [to reporters], but I want to get it removed from my body. It’s shameful that I had it on there ignorantly.
“It was described to me as the percentage of colonists that rose up against the government of the British,” he added. “I was like, ‘Wow, that is such an American sentiment, a patriotic sentiment.’ Coming from a military family, I thought that really spoke to me. I always was proud to be an American. I’m very proud to be an American.”
Rohrwasser, who spent his first two collegiate seasons at University of Rhode Island, said he never had an issue about it while in college.