For the second time in two years, the champs will have an audience with President Joe Biden
The Super Bowl champs are headed back to the White House!
The Kansas City Chiefs will celebrate their 2024 title on Friday, May 31 with a visit to Washington, D.C., where they will meet with President Joe Biden, according to a press release issued by the White House.
It will be the second visit in two years for the team, after winning Super Bowl LVII in 2023. In 2020, the Chiefs didn’t get a chance to celebrate their title at the White House after the ceremony was canceled due to COVID.
The visit comes amid a controversial offseason for the team — and could make for some awkward moments. Earlier this month, kicker Harrison Butker was openly critical of Biden and his policies during COVID in his commencement speech at Benedictine College on May 11.
Since then, Hoda Kotb, Jenna Bush Hager, Maria Shriver and Flavor Flav have pushed back on claims made in his speech, while the NFL said the league does not agree with his views.
“Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity. His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger,” Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, told PEOPLE in a statement.
Despite the controversy, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a May 17th press briefing that an invite was extended to “the entire team.”
When asked about Butker, Jean-Pierre said, “What I can say is we invite the entire team and we do that always. I don’t have anything beyond that.” She later added, “It’s an invitation that goes to the team, and so it’s up to the team who comes and doesn’t come. It’s the way it usually works.”
Last year’s Chiefs-Biden matchup was not without its own highlight reel when quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce had some fun at the podium.
The playful moment happened when Biden posed for a photo with Mahomes, 28, and Kelce, 34, holding up a Kansas City Chiefs No. 46 Biden jersey. After the photo, the president, 81, turned his back to the podium to lay the jersey down and Kelce scooted over to the microphone.
“So, I’ve been waiting for this,” Kelce casually began before Mahomes rushed over and escorted him away from behind the president’s podium. “Sorry! Sorry!” the quarterback said, waving his hand to apologize as the whole team began laughing behind them.
Biden raised both his hands up and laughed along with the confusion.