The politicizing of absolutely everything continued Monday as a report came out that Eagles quarterback and Super Bowl LIX MVP Jalen Hurts will not be in attendance later today when the Eagles will be honored by President Trump at the White House for their championship victory.
According to Yamiche Alcindor, the White House correspondent for NBC News, Hurts will be among a group of players, size unknown, that won't be in attendance.
A White House official confirms to me that @Eagles quarterback @JalenHurts will not be visiting the White House when the Super Bowl champions come later this afternoon. The White House says Hurts and other players who can’t attend had “scheduling conflicts.”
According to her report, the White House said that Hurts and other players would not be attending because of a "scheduling conflict."
Of course, social media is going bonkers over this. Conservatives are mad at him for not going. Liberals are championing him as a hero.
This, of course, comes a day after his teammate, Saquon Barkley, was playing golf with President Trump and flew with him on Marine One.
And the same thing happened with Barkley, only in reverse. Conservatives loved it. Liberals hated it.
It got so bad, as things often do on social media platforms, that Barkley had to respond to everyone about it on Monday morning.
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. Just golfed with Obama not too long ago…and look forward to finishing my round with Trump ! Now ya get out my…
The thing is, the whole event is optional. Players can attend or not attend. Everyone assumes every reason for doing so is driven politically. Perhaps some choices are. Perhaps others are not.
Who knows, maybe a player did have a scheduling conflict. Maybe Hurts is not going out of protest. That seems probable after he refused to answer a question from a Time magazine reporter on Thursday about attending the event.
That's his prerogative.
Maybe Barkley is a Trump supporter. Or maybe, he isn't and just wants say that not everything has to be labeled left or right.
And that's his prerogative.
Whatever the reasons are for going or not going are perfectly fine and acceptable. No one should be criticized for not attending nor should anyone be vilified for going to the event.
It's a celebration of a football championship. Nothing more. Nothing less.
And yes, regardless of your political leanings, if you are an Eagles fan, you are going to cheer for the guys come September, whether or not they posed for a photo with Trump this afternoon.
