More Deflategate Fallout: ESPN's Chris Mortensen Backs Out Of WEEI/Boston Interview

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ESPN football insider CHRIS MORTENSEN declined to appear on ENTERCOM Sports WEEI-F/BOSTON's DENNIS AND CALLAHAN morning show FRIDAY morning to address his initial reporting of "Deflategate" that some say started the ball rolling to TOM BRADY's suspension.

PRO FOOTBALL TALK reports that MORTENSEN, who reported in a JANUARY 20th tweet that 11 of 12 balls in the AFC Championship game were underinflated, a claim that turned out not to be accurate, was scheduled to come on with JOHN DENNIS and GERRY CALLAHAN to talk about it and PATRIOTS owner ROBERT KRAFT's theory that someone at the NFL deliberately leaked the erroneous information to MORTENSEN, but sent an email to the station saying, "You guys made a mistake by drumming up business for the show and how I would address my reporting for the first time.  I will not allow WEEI, KRAFT or anybody to make me the centerpiece of a story that has been misreported far beyond anything I did in the first 48 hours. Maybe when the lawsuit is settled, in BRADY’s favor, I hope, we can revisit. Don’t call.”

MORTENSEN's initial report was criticized as inaccurate in the WELLS Report, the league-mandated independent investigation of the "Deflategate" incident; KRAFT, in his angry reaction to the upholding of BRADY's suspension by NFL Commissioner ROGER GOODELL, referred to the MORTENSEN tweet, saying, "I will never understand why an initial erroneous report regarding the PSI level of footballs was leaked by a source from the NFL a few days after the AFC Championship game was never corrected by those who had the correct information. For four months, that report cast aspersions and shaped public opinion."

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