
Eagles accept White House invite to celebrate title
PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles will be visiting the White House on April 28 to celebrate their Super Bowl LIX victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the news on Tuesday.
“I know there was a lot of fake news about an invitation that wasn’t sent or was sent, we want to correct the record: we sent an invitation, they enthusiastically accepted, and you will see them here on April 28,” she said.
A team spokesperson confirmed the Eagles accepted the invitation. The Eagles did not go to the White House following their Super Bowl LII win over the New England Patriots in 2018. President Donald Trump canceled the event when it was learned only a small number of players planned to attend.
Led by former safety Malcolm Jenkins, the Eagles were central to a player-led movement dedicated to shining a light on social injustice, which included some players protesting during the playing of the national anthem before games. In announcing the decision to cancel the 2018 visit, President Trump wrote that 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.”
Jenkins and former defensive end Chris Long were among those who made it known they did not plan on attending.
“I don’t want to take away from anybody’s experience or make it a big distraction. It’s a celebratory event, and I want the guys who choose to go or whatever to enjoy that,” Jenkins said in 2018. “Me personally, because it’s not a meeting or a sit-down or anything like that, I’m just not interested in the photo op.
“Over the last two years, I’ve been meeting with legislators, both Republican and Democrat, it don’t matter. If you want to meet to talk about events in my community, changing the country, I’m all for that. But this isn’t one of those meetings, so I’ll opt out of the photo opportunity.”