Less than 24 hours before the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles were set to visit the White House, President Donald Trump pulled their invitation, citing the Eagles protests during the National Anthem.
Trump invited Eagles fans to the White House to celebrate the team winning Super Bowl LII over the New England Patriots in January.
“[The Eagles] disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country,” Trump said in a statement Monday evening. “The Eagles wanted to send a smaller delegation, but the 1,000 fans planning to attend the event deserve better.”
Trump invited 1,000 Eagles fans to attend the celebration at the White House “to be part of a different type of ceremony — one that will honor our great country, pay tribute to the heroes who fight to protect it, and loudly and proudly play the National Anthem.”
Several Eagles players said they would not visit the White House in the hours after winning the super Bowl.
But some of the team had plans to go to the White House.
“I’m excited to be going to be honored as world champions. It’s a great honor,” head coach Doug Pederson said on May 17. “We’re still working through some logistics right now, so we don’t have all the details today, but excited to be going.”
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
