The Surprising Reason Tom Brady Wanted To Be Roasted

Netflix’s live roast of Tom Brady became an instant cultural moment, and according to comedian Jeff Ross, the entire event was his brainchild.

In a new interview, Ross, who led the event alongside Kevin Hart, revealed what led to the roast and the surprising reason the Super Bowl champion wanted to participate.

On “The Howard Stern Show,” Ross opened up about the surreal moment he noticed Brady scrolling through his Instagram page just moments before the 2021 Super Bowl.

“I had seen him looking at my Instagram on Super Bowl Sunday a few years ago,” Ross, 59, shared. “I was like, ‘Why the f-ck is Tom Brady on my Instagram?’ I go, ‘Oh, I had some jokes up. Maybe that’s how he unwinds before a big game.’ And he f-cking wins!”

According to Ross, he seized the opportunity and sent the legendary quarterback a message, suggesting he sign up for a roast. “He writes me back, and we start talking, and it turns out my agent and his agent, they work together. And we put a deal together to do a roast. Netflix is like, ‘Sure!’” Ross explained.

After Netflix, Ross, and Brady agreed on the roast following his 2021 Super Bowl win with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, things were put on hold due to Brady’s decision to return to the league for another year. “I was like, ‘No, we got to wait until he’s done playing. It’s a little more fun,'” Ross recalled.

However, when Brady announced his decision to hang up his cleats in 2023, Ross knew it was finally time to strike.

The comedian later said that when he asked Brady what motivated him to do the roast, the 47-year-old apparently gave a surprisingly blunt answer.

“He goes, ‘I love this kind of humor. People are too snowflaky right now,’” Brady said, according to Ross.

And although Brady’s roast was one of the most watched programs on the streaming giant’s servers, pulling in over 13.8 million viewers, not everyone was amused by the jokes.

On the “Impaulsive” podcast, Brady admitted the roast was “tough on my kids,” as many of the jokes centered on his divorce from model Gisele Bündchen.

“I love laughing at myself—it felt like I was in the locker room and the harder people go at me I actually love it. I don’t take myself too serious, but I do understand for my kids it was really hard,” Brady revealed.

“I talked to my kids the next day and I felt like, a stake through the heart,” he recalled. “And understandably, you know, they’re protective. They’re protective of their mom, of their dad. Of everybody, you know.”

Despite the familial tension it may have caused, Brady insisted he still “really enjoyed the show.”

“The performances were incredible and when you were in that moment, in that theater at the Forum, it was electric. It was crazy. We got done, everybody was on cloud nine and that moment I’ll never forget,” he added.

According to a previous report from The Blast, Brady might be eyeing a return to the football field, but not with the NFL.

News broke in early 2025 that NFL owners have approved the participation of current and former league players in the upcoming 2028 Olympic Games, where flag football will officially be recognized as a sport.

A source said that Brady, who will be 50 by the time the games begin, is considering a comeback.