Jill Biden blasted by Angel Reese, Shannon Sharpe for wanting women's basketball loser Iowa at White House with winner LSU. First lady seems to have walked it back.
LSU women's basketball star Angel Reese and NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe blasted first lady Jill Biden over her desire to extend a White House invitation to the University of Iowa women's basketball team — which lost to LSU in the NCAA final Sunday — along with LSU.
Biden made her comments Monday, ESPN reported, adding that by Tuesday morning her press secretary appeared to walk back the first lady's comments.
What are the details?
Biden was in attendance at American Airlines Center in Dallas when LSU beat Iowa 102-85, the sports network said, adding that on Monday she praised Iowa's sportsmanship and congratulated both teams.
"I know we'll have the champions come to the White House; we always do. So we hope LSU will come," Biden said, according to ESPN. "But, you know, I'm going to tell [President] Joe [Biden] I think Iowa should come too, because they played such a good game."
It's customary that only champion teams receive White House invites, not the runners-up.
Reese — who gained fame for taunting back at Iowa's star Caitlin Clark and being named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player — ripped Biden's unorthodox invite suggestion with a succinct tweet Monday night, calling it "A JOKE" and adding a trio of laughing emojis:
\u201c\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23A JOKE. https://t.co/9SiOKQNqbj\u201d— Angel Reese (@Angel Reese) 1680562634
Sharpe on Tuesday's edition of Fox Sports' "The Undisputed," which he co-hosts with Skip Bayless, said that the first lady "needs to sit down" in the wake of her comments.
Sharpe, who is black, added that "the people that won ... look like me, and the people that lost look like [Biden], now we're gonna invite the runner-up!"
He added that Biden is "a doctor," implying she should have known the competitive and racial dynamics between Iowa and LSU: "If she didn't know, she should have known before she opened her mouth and blurted this dumb scenario out!"
"Does Dr. Jill Biden understand how this looks? ... the losing side is white America, and she's like, 'You know what ... '" Sharpe also figuratively asked the first lady, before adding, "Did you forget who put your husband in the White House?" and predicting that Joe Biden would suffer ratings losses if Iowa gets invited to the White House.
Bayless agreed with Sharpe, saying Biden's invite suggestion was uncalled for: "You don't need to pat the Iowa women on the head and say, 'Oh, you poor girls. Why don't you come to the White House, too?'"
UNDISPUTED | 'A JOKE' Shannon sounds off on Jill Biden & said she needs to sit down youtu.be
Walking it back?
Early Tuesday morning Jill Biden's press secretary appeared to walk back the first lady's comments regarding an Iowa invite to the White House:
\u201cHer comments in Colorado were intended to applaud the historic game and all women athletes. She looks forward to celebrating the LSU Tigers on their championship win at the White House.\u201d— Vanessa Valdivia (@Vanessa Valdivia) 1680602782
"Her comments in Colorado were intended to applaud the historic game and all women athletes," Vanessa Valdivia wrote. "She looks forward to celebrating the LSU Tigers on their championship win at the White House."
President Biden on Tuesday morning also tweeted a series of congratulatory messages to LSU and to the NCAA men's basketball champion, the University of Connecticut, adding that "I look forward to welcoming them at each of their White House visits." He didn't mention Iowa.
Anything else?
In regard to Reese's now famous taunting — which also included her pointing at her ring finger to signify a championship — NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal slam-dunked on Keith Olbermann for ripping Reese, telling the outspoken ex-ESPN anchor to "shut your dumb ass up" and "leave Angel Reese alone."
\u201cANGEL REESE TO CAITLIN CLARK \ud83d\ude33\u201d— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) 1680472338
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith opined that since both Reese and Clark engaged in taunting, the fact that it became an issue only after Reese engaged in it reflected a degree of racism.
"Here’s the reality of the situation: [Clark] instigated this kind of stuff," Smith said Monday on "First Take," Fox News reported. "Let’s call it what it is. She was waving. ... How about what she did to Raven Johnson? She didn’t just go into the lane and not guard her against South Carolina in the national semifinal. She waved her off, she didn’t mind being disrespectful. So, why is it that we’re hesitant to bring that up?"
Smith added, "We all know that there’s a white-black issue here because the fact of the matter is when Caitlin did it, people were celebrating it, and they were talking about nothing but her greatness. But then the second a sister steps up and threw it back in her face, now you got half the basketball world saying, ‘You know what? That’s not the classiest thing to do. That’s not the way to act.’ It was the exact same thing," according to Fox News.
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