Several members of the Philadelphia Eagles have already made it very clear to President Trump that they won't be attending the traditional celebratory White House visit following their Super Bowl LII victory. Despite Trump's congratulatory tweet, the team apparently hasn't forgotten the many times the President has chastised Colin Kaepernick.
Congratulations to the Philadelphia Eagles on a great Super Bowl victory!
On Tuesday night, Eagles player Malcolm Jenkins opened up about his reason for abstaining from a White House visit on Late Night with Seth Meyers. When asked about it by Meyers, Jenkins responded, "No, I will not go," which received rousing applause from the audience.
"I've been to the White House before, so I don't need to see the building," said Jenkins, who won a Super Bowl with the Saints in 2010. "And I won the Super Bowl. These things are really just photo ops and I haven't been interested in photo ops this entire time I've been involved with social activism. I'm very, very much interested in meeting with policymakers about making changes in our community. I'm definitely for that and have been doing that and engaging in those activities over the last year, but photo ops aren't really my thing."
Alongside former Buffalo Bills receiver Anquan Boldin, Jenkins has been involved with the Players Coalition, an organization formed last fall to address police brutality and systemic racism in the United States. During his conversation with Meyers, Jenkins added that Boldin and three other NFL players traveled to Capitol Hill in 2017 to meet with lawmakers about criminal justice reform.
"Once we saw that we were able to get three days of meetings, meet with Republicans, Democrats, and have all of this influence, we said, 'It would be something if we could get together as athletes all across this league and really amplify our voices,'" Jenkins said.
Eagles wide receiver Torrey Smith, running back LeGarrette Blount, and defensive end Chris Long have also have spoken about not attending the Eagles' White House trip.
