The Philadelphia Eagles visited the White House on Monday to celebrate their Super Bowl LIX championship alongside President Donald Trump. But the absence of several players at the gathering, including Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts, has caused a stir online.
A “schedule conflict” reportedly kept Hurts from attending, according to a White House official.
Ahead of the team’s visit, the star athlete dodged answering whether he would be joining the Eagles on Monday, simply replying “umm” to a reporter who asked him at the Time magazine gala last week. Hurts did not further comment at the time.
The additional players who did not attend were A.J. Brown, Jordan Davis, DeVonta Smith, Quinyon Mitchell, Jalen Carter, Brandon Graham, Nolan Smith, Zack Baun, Nakobe Dean, CJ Gardner Johnson and Darius Slay, according to a list shared following Monday’s ceremony.
Attendance “was optional for players” for the long-standing tradition, in which Super Bowl champions visit the White House, according to the BBC.
Some social media users on X, formerly Twitter, praised Hurts for skipping out on the White House visit.
“As an Eagles fan, this makes me like this guy immensely more,” one person said of Hurts.
Another added, “Jalen Hurts don’t need a reason not to go to the White House. Jalen Hurts has every right to not go.”
Meanwhile, the Eagles’ star running back Saquon Barkley — who caught heat for being spotted golfing with Trump at the politician’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, one day before the ceremony — defended himself against the backlash for his connection to Trump.
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“Lol some people are really upset cause I played golfed and flew to the White House with the PRESIDENT. Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand,” he wrote.
Barkley then pointed out that he has golfed with former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, as well.
He added: “Just golfed with Obama not too long ago…and look forward to finishing my round with Trump ! Now ya get out my mentions with all this politics and have amazing day 😂.”
A clip from the teams’ visit that’s been making the rounds on social media shows Trump teasing that he wouldn’t want to “tackle” Barkley while referring to the athlete as a “handsome guy.”
The gossip over the Eagles visit to the White House came after Trump made a notable appearance at Super Bowl LIX — a rare occurrence for a sitting president — where the Philadelphia team beat out the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22.
Trump and the Eagles have seemingly patched things up as the two previously appeared to clash after the White House rescinded the team’s invitation to visit after they won their first ever Super Bowl win in 2018 during Trump’s first administration.
The then-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders slammed the incident as a “political stunt” by the Eagles.
