There Will Be No Super Bowl Celebration at the White House This Year
For the first time since 2004, the NFL team who won the Super Bowl will not be visiting the President at the White House.
Today, President Donald Trump rescinded his invitation to the Philadelphia Eagles. We’ve seen instances during Trump’s presidency where athletes have chosen to sit the event out, but this will be the second time that he has completely canceled the event. The first being this past Summer when the Golden State Warriors elected not to visit the White House after winning the NBA Finals.
This obviously has to do with Trump and his many clashes with the NFL during his time in office. Most recently, the league decided to change their rules for players who choose not to stand for the National Anthem. This topic has been something that the President has spoken out against many times. In his statement, the Trump cited this situation as the main reason why he chose to rescind the invite.
Donald Trump issues a statement saying neither the #Eagles, nor team representatives, are welcome at the White House tomorrow for their Super Bowl visit. Unreal. pic.twitter.com/PXEoZ43XY0
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 4, 2018
But to be completely honest, I doubt that many of the Eagles players would have shown up anyway. I bet less than half of the squad was even planning on attending. NFL players have been very active in speaking out against him and his policies over the past year and a half. Former Eagles wide receiver Torrey Smith spoke about Trump’s statement via Twitter:
There are a lot of people on the team that have plenty of different views. The men and women that wanted to go should’ve been able to go. It’s a cowardly act to cancel the celebration because the majority of the people don’t want to see you. To make it about the anthem is foolish
— Torrey Smith (@TorreySmithWR) June 4, 2018
I doubt this will be the last time we see Trump cancel an invitation to the White House. There are just so many athletes who have spoken out against Trump and his political views, and we know how he feels about people who speak out against him.
-Nick Cherico (@NickCherico2)