Well, this escalated quickly.
The Philadelphia Eagles, as you may have noticed, are not celebrating their Super Bowl LII victory at the White House on Tuesday. That’s because President Donald Trump rescinded their invitation after some players stated they wouldn’t attend the ceremony.
There’s been plenty of confusion since then, with news outlets showing misleading images of Eagles players “protesting” during the national anthem and some critics failing to understand why they’re even mad at the Super Bowl champs.
So, the White House Office of the Press Secretary decided to clear the air Tuesday with another statement.
Here’s how that went:
The statement first attempts to clarify why Trump pulled his invitation to the Eagles: The club initially planned on sending 81 personnel to the ceremony, according to the statement, but attempted to “reschedule” the event last Friday since many of their players planned on not going.
This apparently was an affront to the White House, which “nonetheless” swallowed its pride and tried to make things work, per the White House. But the final straw was when Trump and Co. learned Philly only offered to send “a tiny handful of representatives” (whatever that means), which logically led our nation’s highest office to conclude that “the vast majority of the Eagles team decided to abandon their fans.”
How will Philly fans ever forgive them?
Those betrayed supporters still can revel in the Eagles’ four-month-old Super Bowl victory if they so choose, however: Trump will host a “celebration of the American flag” Tuesday afternoon at the White House, where everyone can stand and listen to patriotic music at a high volume.
