In years past, NFL players who won the Super Bowl often looked forward to visiting the White House as a reward without controversy. However, with President Donald Trump at the helm, controversy has followed in the wake of the Philadelphia Eagles’ long-awaited win. Thus far, the list of Eagles players who say they don’t plan on attending a celebration at Trump’s White House is growing.
Thus far, Eagles defensive end Chris Long has reported that he is not going to the White House once more, the same move that he practiced last year when he was part of the winning New England Patriots team, as reported by CNN.
“No, I’m not going to the White House. Are you kidding me?”
Long expressed his feelings about skipping the White House visit on a Pardon My Take podcast, prior to winning the Super Bowl. Chris isn’t the only Eagles player staying away from the White House because of Trump. As reported by CNN Politics , Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins spoke of not anticipating a White House visit this year.
As seen in the below video, Jenkins spoke of not having a direct message for Trump, but instead spoke of continuing to move forward in positivity by attempting to help disenfranchised communities around the U.S. fight against inequality and police brutality.
“No, I’m not going to the White House. Are you kidding me?” said Eagles defensive end Chris Long, who also skipped the White House visit when he played for last year’s champs https://t.co/kICLCnPKJo
— CNN (@CNN) February 5, 2018
Eagles running back LeGarrette Blount previously spoke of not feeling like the red carpet would be rolled out for NFL players like him, a man who also decided not to visit the White House as a Patriots player last year.
“I just don’t feel welcome into that house. I’m just gonna leave it at that.”
Trump, for his part, published the below tweet on the evening of Sunday, February 4, which expressed congratulations to the Eagles for their Super Bowl win.
Philadelphia Eagles safety and Super Bowl champion Malcolm Jenkins says, “I personally do not anticipate attending (a victory event at the White House)” https://t.co/y3iENKNvfu pic.twitter.com/kLZa2Wq2Vr
— CNN This Morning (@CNNThisMorning) February 5, 2018
A search for “ White House Eagles ” on Twitter reveals the growing list of Eagles players who have already been quoted as saying they will not visit Trump’s White House, along with Twitter users expressing their thoughts on the matter. Whereas some social media users don’t blame the NFL players for boycotting Trump’s White House, other individuals are claiming that they would have visited the White House no matter who was president at the time.
A reading of some of the comments flowing into the reply section of the tweets featured in this article show a back-and-forth argument between Trump supporters and opponents on Twitter, with some claiming that although they hated former President Barack Obama, they still would have respected the office of the president of the U.S. enough to visit and not boycott after a Super Bowl championship win.
Others beg to differ and don’t blame some Eagles players for staying far away from Trump’s D.C.
Congratulations to the Philadelphia Eagles on a great Super Bowl victory!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2018
