After winning their first Super Bowl in franchise history, the Philadelphia Eagles will surely receive an invite to pose for photos with President Trump at the White House, as is customary for Super Bowl winners. However, some Eagles players have already said they have no plans of attending.
In addition to Eagles defensive end Chris Long, who didn't go to the White House last year when he was a member of the Patriots, cornerback Malcolm Jenkins also won't be joining his teammates during their trip to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Jenkins, who has advocated for social change throughout the season, explained that he's not interested in the White House "photo opportunity."
"I don't want to take away from anybody's experience or make it a big distraction. It is a celebratory event. I want the guys who chose to go to enjoy that. There are a lot of veterans who attend that, that are fans of ours, that want to enjoy it," Jenkins said Wednesday at the NovaCare Complex. "Me personally, because it is not a meeting or a sit down or anything like that, I'm just not interested in the photo op. So I am choosing not to go for the photo op. Over the last two years I have been meeting with legislators, both republican and democrat. Don't matter -- if you wanna meet to talk about advancing our communities, changing our countries, I am all for that. This isn't one of those meetings. So I'll opt out of the photo opportunity."
Eagles wide receiver Torrey Smith also spoke about his decision to skip the White House visit. Smith says, "Going to the White House should be seen as an honor, and I believe it is an honor, but to me it has to be an honor with the right type of respect in office. I just don't see it. It's not about politics; I just don't think the president is a good person. I don't want to go out of my way to go see someone who isn't even welcoming the men in this locker room and our different cultures."