For the third year in a row, the reigning college football champions have declined the White House’s invitation for an annual visit.
For the past two years, teams have cited the COVID-19 pandemic as reason not to travel to the White House.
This year, the Georgia Bulldogs cited scheduling issues “given the student-athlete calendar and time of year,” according to the Associated Press. It did not provide any specifics on the scheduling conflict.
The visit, scheduled for June 12th with a number of other college teams, is being billed as “College Athlete Day”.
It will still welcome Louisiana State University (LSU) Tigers women’s basketball team and the University of Connecticut Huskies men’s basketball team on May 26th to celebrate their championship victories.
Jill Biden’s Major Gaffe
LSU’s visit was uncertain after Jill Biden made a suggestion many found borderline racist.
The First Lady attended the women’s national championship game, where LSU took on the Iowa Hawkeyes.
A day after the game, Jill remarked, “I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House, we always do. So, we hope LSU will come.”
“But, you know, I’m going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game.”
Her suggestion that the mostly white runner up team be included alongside the mostly black championship team sparked outrage, most notable from LSU’s star player, Angel Reese.
She called Jill’s comments a “joke” and later defended, and reinforced, her reaction.
” I’m not going to lie to you, because I don’t accept her apology… I said what I said… You felt like they [Iowa] should’ve came because of sportsmanship, they can have that spotlight. We’ll go to the Obamas. We’ll see Michelle, we’ll see Barack,” Reese said.
The First Lady’s office later walked back her comments about Iowa.
