Bill Belichick sparks social media outrage with derogatory nickname for Massachusetts – as Patriots fans hit back at legendary former coach.

Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick did the state of his old employer no favors when he appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday.

Belichick, who left the Patriots last offseason, spoke candidly about the difficulties of bringing players to New England.

Among other things, he pointed to the high tax rates in the state of Massachusetts. The 72-year-old coach referred to one of the state’s most notorious nicknames.

“Oh, yeah. They’re Taxachusetts. Yeah. They take more from you. So pretty much every player, even a practice squad, but even the minimum players are pretty close to a million dollars.

“And once you hit that million dollar threshold, you’re going to pay more state taxes in Massachusetts. So that’s just another thing you have to deal with in the negotiations there.

Belichick called the state ‘Taxachusetts’ and said high rates discouraged players from signing

“It’s not like Tennessee or Florida or Nevada or some of these teams that don’t have a state income tax. So you get hit pretty hard with the agents there.

‘They come and tell you off about the taxes they pay. We don’t benefit from that at all.’

Although comments under the original Pat McAfee Show post mocked the nickname, it was reposted by a Patriots fan. Comments under that post show that many people are defending the state.

“Yeah we’re all crying for you Bill. You can move now that you’re unemployed. Let’s compare education/healthcare/infant mortality etc. to Tennessee or other red states,” one user wrote.

Another wrote: ‘Amazing that this doesn’t affect other teams in Boston, or other high tax states. Maybe it was you Bill lol’

“I’m not going to be lectured about MA having high taxes while consistently leading the nation in education and healthcare,” another user said. “MA also gives more to the federal tax fund than it takes in. It literally subsidizes the economies of TN, FL and NV.”

Others compared the Patriots’ situation to that of other Massachusetts sports teams.

“Don’t the Celtics play in Mass? Seems like they don’t have a hard time signing FAs,” one user wrote.

Under a repost of that video, a number of Twitter users defended Massachusetts

Another user said: ‘Six rings. Celtics just won. If state taxes make a difference, we don’t want that player anyway. Selfish in spirit. Massachusetts is the best state in the country and it’s not that close.’

“So not signing Jacobi Myers or DeAndre Hopkins was a matter of state taxes or was it Bill and Robert Kraft making cheap, low bids,” said another.

The Patriots concluded their preseason on Sunday night with a 20-10 loss to the Washington Commanders.

New England went 1-3 in pre-season play under new head coach Jerod Mayo.

They open the regular season with an away game against the Cincinnati Bengals.