There has been much speculation about whether the Philadelphia Eagles will accept President Donald Trump’s invitation to the White House following their victory in Super Bowl LIX. However, NBA legend and current NBA broadcaster Charles Barkley appears to believe they should.
Though Donald Trump formally invited the Eagles to the White House last week, they have yet to publicly indicate whether they will accept the invitation. But Charles Barkley appears frustrated that players would consider boycotting a trip to the White House.
During the most recent episode of The Steam Room podcast with co-host Ernie Johnson, Barkley slammed the possibility of teams or players declining a visit to the White House.
“I don’t care who the president is,” Barkley said, per Brandon Contes of Awful Announcing. “He is the President of the United States. It has bothered me for the past ten years that they say, ‘Well, I’m not going because this certain person is president.’ “Dude, this is the President of the United States.”
Barkley stated that he would agree to visit the White House and pay his respects to the president regardless of whether he agreed with him.
“Even though I disagree with President Trump on some issues, if I met him, I would treat him with the respect and dignity that he deserves. We can disagree, but it bothers me when these teams refuse to go to the White House. I am just disappointed… We became so divided. Where did we get to as a country when we say, ‘We’re not going to the White House because we don’t like who’s there.’ “That is just stupid.”
The Daily Mail reported before the Super Bowl that the Eagles planned to decline an invitation to the White House if they won, but that report has since been refuted by other outlets following their Super Bowl LIX victory.
If the Eagles decline the invitation, it will not be the first time the team has failed to appear at the White House following a Super Bowl win.
When the Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2018, during Trump’s first term, he invited them to the White House to celebrate. Several Eagles players, however, have stated that they will not attend the visit or meet with Trump following his remarks about those who knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality.
When it became clear that many players were refusing to visit the White House, Trump revoked his invitation.