CNN
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President Donald Trump said he plans to host the Kansas City Chiefs at the White House to celebrate their Covid-19-affected Super Bowl victory from five years ago.
The Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV in February 2020 but were unable to celebrate fully – including the customary visit to the White House – because of the Covid-19 pandemic which was sweeping across the globe.
But Trump says the team will finally be able to pose with pictures in the White House five years on.
“I look forward to having the (Philadelphia) Eagles (for winning Super Bowl LIX in February). And one other thing, we’re going to have the Kansas City Chiefs after that, because they missed their turn because of Covid,” Trump told Clay Travis, the founder of sports website Outkick, during an interview aboard Air Force One. He did not give a date for the visit.
CNN has reached out to the Chiefs to ask whether they had received an official invitation.
If the Chiefs do celebrate with Trump this year, they will be the second team to do so along with the Eagles.
Philadelphia beat the Chiefs 40-22 in this year’s Super Bowl and after social media speculation suggesting the team would refuse the traditional visit, they officially accepted an invitation to visit the White House earlier this month.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Eagles’ visit would happen on April 28.
Back in 2018, Philadelphia decided not to celebrate the victory with Trump, who was in his first term in office at the time.
The decision sparked a storm of criticism from the president, who falsely accused the Eagles of taking a knee during “The Star-Spangled Banner” that year and disrespecting the National Anthem in other ways before uninviting the whole team.
Regarding the 2018 incident, Trump said that while some players, coaches and the team’s general manager wanted to come, the invitation was withdrawn amid the controversy. “Some of the players wanted to come. And I just said, just forget it,” he recalled, before adding, “I also had the problem with the San Francisco basketball team.”
The previous year, the Golden State Warriors chose not to visit Trump in the White House after winning the 2016-17 NBA championship, with Trump also saying on social media that the invitation had been rescinded.
“They said, ‘Well, we’ll think about it.’ I said, ‘You don’t have to think; you’re uninvited,’” the president told Outkick.