The Super Bowl kicks off in less than one week, where the Philadelphia Eagles will face the defending champion, New England Patriots at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minnesota. Every major American sport team is often given an invitation to visit the White House in honor of their championship season. In the past, athletes went without hesitation. Since taken office, Donald Trump has gotten denials from a number of athletes, including NBA star, Steph Curry, who declined the visit after the Warriors 2017 NBA championship season.
You can now add Eagles’ defensive tackle Chris Long to the list.
Long was recently a guest on the Pardon My Take podcast when asked about the White House visit.
“Are you kidding me,” said Long… “My son grows up, and I believe the legacy of our president is going to be what it is, I don’t want him to say, ‘Hey dad, why’d you go when you knew the right thing was not to go?”
As a member of the Patriots last season, Long opted out to attend the visit when Tom Brady, Bill Belichek and the rest of the Patriot went in 2017.
The son of Hall of Fame defensive end, Howie Long, chose to donate his entire season’s paycheck to charity and has supported teammate, Malcolm Jenkins, on tackling social justice issues that plague the African American community. Long is also an advocate of Colin Kaepernick’s initiatives as well.
Chris Long is not the first athlete to deny the White House Trump visit and most certainly will not be the last. The denial has rose to become a trend to athletes until Trump’s term comes to an end.
