The Philadelphia Eagles have accepted an invitation to the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl LIX victory.
‘We sent the invite, and they enthusiastically accepted,’ a White House official told The Philadelphia Inquirer. ‘We are working with them to determine a date and logistics.’
Trump became the first sitting President to attended the Super Bowl when he watched the football championship game down in New Orleans.
However, he had to watch his pick – the Kansas City Chiefs – suffer a humiliating defeat to the Eagles as Philadelphia crushed their rivals 40-22.
It will mark the team’s first visit to the White House during a Trump presidency after an invitation during the president’s first term ended in controversy.
After their 2018 Super Bowl win, some Eagles players said they wouldn’t attend the White House celebration because of Trump’s criticism of football players who kneeled or raised their fists during the national anthem in protest of racial injustice and police brutality.
The Eagles have accepted an invitation to the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl win
The Eagles did not visit President Trump in 2018 – the last time they won the Super Bowl
At a 2017 rally, Trump said that the protests were ‘hurting the game,’ and said NFL owners should fire players who did so.
Malcolm Jenkins, then of the Eagles, was among the NFL players at the time to protest, as he would raise his fist during the anthem. Rodney McLeod did the same.
Ultimately, the Eagles had decided on sending a small group of less than 10 players – as NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported at the time.
In response, Trump rescinded the invite to the team and held a patriotic celebration instead.
This year, following their victory, there had been speculation that the Eagles would turn down the traditional audience with the president at the White House.
But it later emerged that the team would be ‘honored’ to visit Trump’s White House with the president subsequently instructing his aides to send the invitation at the end of last month.
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In addition to his support of the Chiefs in the NFL season finale, Trump also praised Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife, Brittany, the latter of whom ‘liked’ a pair of Trump-related social media posts during the campaign.
‘I want to thank beautiful Brittany Mahomes for so strongly defending me, and the fact that MAGA is the greatest and most powerful Political Movement in the History of our now Failing Country,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social network ahead of his electoral victory over Kamala Harris in November.
The Hunt family, which owns the Chiefs, also has a history of supporting conservative causes.
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, on the other hand, has a record of supporting left-leaning politicians, such as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, although he previously donated to Republicans George W. Bush and Arlen Specter as well.