Chris Long Says He’ll Skip White House Visit Again If Eagles Win Super Bowl

Chris Long has already missed out on one White House visit, and he isn’t afraid to refuse attending the President’s home again.

Chris Long to skip Eagles’ possible 2018 White House visit

The veteran defensive end has stated that should his Philadelphia Eagles win Super Bowl LII on February 4, he won’t make the trip to Washington.

Here is the exchange Long had with PFTCommenter, the host of the Pardon My Take podcast:

PFT: “If you guys win the Super Bowl, are you going to the White House?”

Long: “No, I’m not going to the White House. Are you kidding me?”

The 32-year-old was one of several New England Patriots players to miss last year’s White House trip after the team won Super Bowl LI. After New York Daily News reporter Chuck Modiano criticized his decision, saying Long should “stand up” to President Donald Trump, the defensive end fired back at Modiano:

Long has made very clear that he does not support Trump, and is one of the many NFL players who has protested the national anthem in some way.

“My son grows up, and I believe the legacy of our president is going to be what it is, I don’t want him to say, ‘Hey dad, why’d you go [to the White House] when you knew the right thing was to not go?'” Long said around the time the Patriots visited the White House in 2017.

This past season, Long donated all 16 of his game checks to causes that are important to him. Six of his paychecks went to fund scholarships in his hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia in the wake of white supremacist rallies that quickly turned violent and ended in several injuries and the death of one counter-protester. Long donated his other ten checks to increase educational equality by launching the Pledge 10 for Tomorrow campaign.

“Some people are tired of hearing me tweet because they want me to stick to football, but I like to use social media like I was a regular guy because I think I am,” Long said, per CSNPhilly.com. “I don’t tell people to stick to their job when they want to talk politics. And this isn’t political. That’s the thing. Everybody is trying to turn this political. This isn’t a political issue. This is right or wrong.”

Long, the second overall draft pick in 2008 out of Virginia, played his first eight NFL seasons with the then-St. Louis Rams.