The Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles will visit the White House in June, NBC Sports Philadelphia reported Thursday.
NFL Football – Philadelphia Eagles v New England Patriots – Super Bowl LII – U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. – February 4, 2018. Philadelphia Eagles’ Nick Foles celebrates winning Super Bowl LII with his daughter. REUTERS/Chris Wattie
“President Trump looks forward to welcoming the Philadelphia Eagles to the White House on June 5th to celebrate their Super Bowl LII win.” – White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters
— Jonathan Tamari (@JonathanTamari) May 17, 2018
The news follows reports that at least a handful of players from the 2017 Super Bowl winning team — including Chris Long, Malcolm Jenkins and Dannell Ellerbe — have said they would not attend any congratulatory event with President Donald Trump.
“We, as a team, are still kind of discussing what that looks like,” Jenkins told the outlet. “But visiting the White House is not something that I’m interested in doing at this time.”
“At this point in time, there’s so much that’s been kind of swirling around that administration, I don’t see it as beneficial at this moment in time to visiting a celebratory fashion,” he added. “But I know for a fact that there are other guys who have dreamt of the opportunity to go to the White House and I think they should have that opportunity. I think as a team, we’re still discussing what exactly that looks like and we’ll see.”
In April, the team shared in a statement that they had been in contact with the WH and were “honored to receive” an invitation.
“We have been in contact with White House representatives and are currently discussing the logistics of an upcoming visit to Washington,” the statement read. “We are honored to receive this invitation and view this not only as an opportunity to be recognized for our on-field achievements, but also as an opportunity to engage in productive dialogue with the leaders of our country.”