Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts accomplished something earlier this year that the vast majority of NFL players will never accomplish: He won a Super Bowl. And not only did he win it, he had a historic game and managed to snag the Most Valuable Player award. But it’s what he this week that proves just how small and insignificant he is in the great scheme of things.
Hurts and the rest of his team were invited to visit the White House, as is tradition for Super Bowl winners as well as the champion teams of other U.S. professional sports leagues. And while many of his teammates went, this team “leader” chose to sit it out because — you guessed it — he couldn’t control his Trump Derangement Syndrome. Oh, the “official reason” was that there was a “scheduling conflict,” but we all know he voluntarily punted on the opportunity to do something even more rare in life than winning the Super Bowl and becoming MVP: Visiting a sitting president at the White House.
At the TIME100 Gala last week, when asked if he planned to join his teammates at the White House, Hurts hesitated—utterly replying “Um” before falling silent. That moment, combined with his confirmed absence today, has fueled claims that he intentionally snubbed the event rather than attend with his teammates.
In 2018, during Trump’s first term, the team’s visit was called off after several players threatened to boycott over social justice issues, sparking a major clash between the NFL and the White House. This year’s visit, however, has been far less contentious. Some Eagles players, like star running back Saquon Barkley, opted to attend—and Barkley was even spotted golfing with President Trump over the weekend at Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey, club.
And for comparison, the majority of the Kansas City Chiefs accepted then-President Joe Biden’s invite to come to the White House after one of their recent Super Bowl victories, including team members like kicker Harrison Butker, a full-blown Christian and conservative — because he was man enough to be able to put aside his personal political viewpoints for an afternoon and do the right thing by his teammates.
Jalen Hurts is now a Super Bowl champion. He’s also a Super Bowl MVP. He also appears to be a petty, vindictive, small-minded man incapable of showing the president of the United States, leader of the best country on the planet, the respect he deserves for the office he holds. Pathetic.