NFL Player's Controversial Mac & Cheese Take Has Twitter Flipping Out

Macaroni and cheese may not have been on the table at the very first Thanksgiving in 1621, but in modern times, the cheesy side has become a staple of the massive meal (via History). One Twitter user even declared that the noodle dish is "more important than the turkey." While that may sound a bit preposterous, the sentiment appears to be one that many share, as the tweet has gone viral with more than 90,000 likes and 16,000 re-tweets since being posted on November 22. Despite mac & cheese's clear popularity amongst the various Turkey Day foods, not everybody finds the comfort meal to be appealing.

NFL player Matt Judon is on this side of the mac & cheese debate and is far from shy about voicing his distaste for the dish. According to Boston.com, the New England Patriots linebacker was asked about his favorite Thanksgiving food during a press conference on Tuesday, November 23, but instead of giving an answer, Judon went on an unexpected rant about his least favorite side instead. "We got to get macaroni and cheese off the table," the 29-year-old said before going on to say that the dish was "overrated" and "not that good." As you can probably expect, Judon's mac & cheese hot take wasn't exactly well-received, especially on Twitter, where many users slammed the athlete's controversial opinion.

Considering the obvious love that Twitter has for macaroni and cheese, it should come as no surprise that users on the social media platform flipped out over Matt Judon's controversial comments on the beloved Thanksgiving side. "Blasphemous!! Especially since Matt Judon played in Baltimore, I hate to do this to him, but he's finished, we tolerate no mac & cheese disrespect," one user tweeted in response to the athlete's comments. "BREAKING: New England Patriots standout free agent signing, Matt Judon, has been released. Sources say it comes as a direct result of his terrible and very wrong mac and cheese comments," another tweeted (don't worry Patriots fans, it was only a joke).

Judon, who eventually revealed that his favorite Thanksgiving side dish is dressing (aka stuffing), explained during Tuesday's press conference that he has always had a distaste for macaroni and cheese. Per Boston.com, he cited the meal's potential digestive impacts as one reason why it should be avoided. "Get it off the table. The bathrooms will be less busy," he said. The linebacker does make a fair point, as the day after Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest day of the year for plumbers. However, we can't imagine celebrating the November holiday without a big pan of mac & cheese on the table. For now, we'll continue to include it in our Turkey Day feasts, but on the off-chance that Judon shows up to our holiday meal, we'll make sure to avoid putting it on his plate.