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The Patriots have won the Super Bowl yet again, so what’s next, of course, is the ceremonial visit to the White House, but some players are saying not so fast.
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And while the Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and league MVP Julian Edelman have already recorded a “I’m Going to Disney World” commercial that’s on heavy rotation after their Super Bowl 53 win on Sunday, some of their teammates plan to nix the the next stop: The White House trip, The NY Daily News reports.
“I haven’t thought about it, but I highly doubt it,” said Devin McCourty, being diplomatic on Monday to reporters when asked if he planned to go. His twin brother, Jason, however, followed up saying there was no chance that he would make the visit.
Safety Duron Harmon told TMZ Sports that he was opting out.
“They don’t want me in the White House,” he told the site.
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Black Clemson Football Players Skip White House Visit
After the fallout from the now infamous White House “hamberder” feast that was fed to the Clemson championship football team, we now know that most of the Black football players sat out the trip to meet Trump.
According to The Root, a Black football player who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that many players opted out of visiting the White House based on President’s Donald Trump’s “divisive politics” and “racism.”
“Players were talking amongst each other,” he said. “Everybody was like: ‘I’m not going to that.’”
According to the outlet, only 15 of the 57 Black student athletes at Clemson took the trip to Washington to attend.
The visit was meant to celebrate the Tigers’ 44-16 win over the University of Alabama to claim college football’s national championship which is their second in the last three years. Due to the fact that the White House staff was on furlough because of the federal government’s partial shutdown, Trump claimed to have paid to have a buffet of fast foodburgers and pizza from McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Domino’s Pizza. The president referred to the offerings as “Great American Food” and he said he paid for the “Hamberders” himself.
Joe Galbraith, Clemson’s associate vice president for strategic communications, acknowledged the missing Black players in a statement Tuesday: “We had 76 student-athletes (approximately two-thirds of the team) make the trip to DC.”
He claimed that “for a variety of reasons, several players were not able to adjust schedules to make the trip.”
“On the championship game roster, 26 players had already received their bachelor’s degree, and had no planned obligations on campus beginning that week,” Galbraith said. “Other student-athletes had class obligations as the spring semester began the week prior.”