The Philadelphia Eagles will not be attending a ceremony at the White House, according to a statement by President Donald Trump.
The decision comes a day before the event was to occur.
The statement says that the defending Super Bowl champions 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.”
A large group of Eagles players had decided not to attend, including most — if not all — of the black players, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
A smaller delegation of players were set to go but “the 1,000 fans planning to attend the event deserve better,” according to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump says that he will instead have 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.”
There had been ongoing conversations within the Eagles organization in the weeks leading up to the scheduled visit in an attempt to map out an itinerary that the team felt comfortable with.
Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins, defensive end Chris Long and former wide receiver Torrey Smith — now with the Carolina Panthers — said they would not attend if an invitation were presented.
Jenkins told reporters in May that while he will not be going to the White House, he will be traveling to Washington with teammates that day.
“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 February. “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.”
ESPN’s Tim McManus contributed to this report.
Source : ESPN
