Jill Biden Suggests Inviting Both NCAA Women’s Teams to White House — LSU Star Angel Reese Not A Fan Of That

Tommy ChristopherApr 4th, 2023, 8:57 am
 

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden suggested inviting NCAA Women’s Finals loser University of Iowa to the White House along with the champion Louisiana State University team — an idea that LSU star Angel Reese and many others did not love.

During a speech in Colorado on Monday, Dr. Biden shouted out the champs as well as the runners-up as she described attending the final, and suggested the game was a landmark for women’s sports that deserved a special honor:

Yesterday, last night, I attended the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship! And I… How many of you saw it? It was, like, so exciting, wasn’t it? It was such a great game. And, you know, I’m old enough that I remember when we got Title IX and we fought so hard, right?

We fought so hard. And look at where women’s sports has come today. So we got to keep working. We got to keep working. So congratulations to both teams.

So I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House. We always do. So, you know, we’ll have LSU come. But, you know what I’m going to tell Joe? I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game.

So. Right. So winners and losers, That’s sportsmanship. That’s good sportsmanship.

But a major subplot of that tournament and final was the uproar over a taunt that Reese made during the game that mimicked a taunt by Iowa star Caitlin Clark in a previous game — and the disparate treatment of those events by media observers that many called out as a racist double standard.

In that context, many people weren’t thrilled with the suggestion by Dr. Biden — including Reese, who tweeted an article along with three laughter emojis and the caption “A JOKE.”

Others chimed in to support Reese, including activist April Reign, who headed the well-known #OscarsSoWhite campaign and wrote a thread asking the first lady to reconsider her position:

According to the article, Iowa hasn’t officially been invited. @FLOTUS @DrBiden said she was going to tell @potus that they *should* be invited. Nevertheless, this would be unprecedented & a bad decision. Games are thrilling all the time. Only the winner gets the invitation.

I encourage @FLOTUS @DrBiden to think long and hard about what it means to take even a little bit of the spotlight away from a winning team. A @WhiteHouse invitation is an honor, not a participation trophy. I’m sure #DrFLOTUS will consider the impact of this lesson as a teacher.

Watch above via 9News.

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