Following many pro sports championship games, the winning team receives an invitation to the White House to meet the president.
This bipartisan tradition continued when President Donald Trump extended an invitation to the Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, however, noted during a recent press conference that the media hasn’t been reporting that development accurately.
Per the Daily Wire:
“I can confirm that the Philadelphia Eagles will be here at the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl victory,” Leavitt said.
“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.”
President Donald Trump recently said the Eagles “deserve” to come to the White House and announced that an invite would be extended to the Super Bowl-winning team.
“They will be, we haven’t yet, but we will be,” Trump said. “I thought it was a great performance by them. Absolutely, they’ll be extended that invitation.”
News of the upcoming visit soon began to spread via social media:
The #Eagles will officially visit the White House on Monday, April 28th to celebrate their Super Bowl LIX Victory.
The team “enthusiastically accepted” their invitation, per White House officials. pic.twitter.com/0vAXJYseab
— Eagles Nation (@PHLEaglesNation) March 11, 2025
The Daily Mail provided additional context about the team’s White House visit:
It will mark the team’s first visit to the White House during a Trump presidency after an invitation during the president’s first term ended in controversy.
After their 2018 Super Bowl win – their first in franchise history – some Eagles players said they wouldn’t attend the White House celebration because of Trump’s criticism of football players who kneeled or raised their fists during the national anthem in protest of racial injustice and police brutality.
At a 2017 rally, Trump said that the protests were ‘hurting the game,’ and said NFL owners should fire players who did so.
Malcolm Jenkins, then of the Eagles, was among the NFL players at the time to protest, as he would raise his fist during the anthem. Rodney McLeod did the same.
Ultimately, the Eagles had decided on sending a small group of less than 10 players – as NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported at the time.
In response, Trump rescinded the invite to the team and held a patriotic celebration instead.
Here’s a clip of Leavitt’s remarks:
🚨 #BREAKING: Karoline Leavitt announces the Philadelphia Eagles will be visiting the White House on April 28th
This comes after the legacy media LIED, saying the Eagles refused to visit with Trump.
Does these people ever get tired of BSing the public? pic.twitter.com/583TOiCgr5
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) March 11, 2025
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