LeBron James shares his thoughts on the Philadelphia Eagles being uninvited to the White House.#NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/yeQOwXeMbG
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 5, 2018
President Donald Trump continued the trend of uninviting teams from the White House who already didn’t want to go on Monday night.
Trump released a statement stating that the Philadelphia Eagles would not be invited to attend Tuesday’s event “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.”
Donald Trump issues a statement saying neither the #Eagles, nor team representatives, are welcome at the White House tomorrow for their Super Bowl visit. Unreal. pic.twitter.com/PXEoZ43XY0
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 4, 2018
A large contingent of Eagles players had already decided not to attend including most – if not all – of the black players, according to ESPN.
Trump did the same thing to the Golden State Warriors last year, disinviting the team after Curry and others implied they were unlikely to attend.
LeBron James was asked for his thoughts on the Eagles being disinvited during his press conference on Tuesday, and stated that he wasn’t surprised, and that neither the Warriors or Cavs will be interested in going if they win the title this year.
“I actually just found out about it when I was walking up to the podium, I hadnt really digested it enough,” LeBron began. “But it’s typical of him. I’m not surprised. Typical of him and I don’t know, I mean, I know no matter who wins this series no one wants the invite anyways, so it won’t be Golden State or Cleveland going.
“I think as long as he’s in the office, the communication and things like that is gonna continue to happen. It’s a lot of things that we believe in as Americans that we don’t feel that he’s for.
“It’s a lot of people that believe that he’s not for the people or doing things that are not right by the people.
“Let’s not let someone uninviting you to their house take away from that moment, because I think the championship of winning a Super Bowl, winning a Stanley Cup, or winning a World Series, or winning an NBA Championship or a National Championship, is way bigger than getting invited to the White House. Especially with him in there, in my opinion.”
Curry spoke shortly after and agreed with LeBron’s assessment.
Steph Curry weighs in on the Philadelphia Eagles being uninvited from the White House. pic.twitter.com/PpYVVaWPUO
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 5, 2018
“I agree with Bron,” Curry said, while adding that his team — if they win — would “stay consistent with” not visiting Trump’s White House like they did last year after winning the NBA Finals.
Steve Kerr followed by echoing that Trump’s actions are just more of the same.
Steve Kerr on Trump: “It’s not surprising. The President has made it pretty clear he’s gonna try to divide all of us in this country for political gain.” pic.twitter.com/WFCM9lpFiH
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) June 5, 2018