The Washington Examiner reported on Wednesday that a request by First Lady Jill Biden to visit the locker room of Louisiana State University's (LSU) women's basketball was rejected.
That claim was made by lead player Angel Reese during an appearance on I Am Athlete's Paper Route podcast, saying it was in response to President Joe Biden's March Madness bracket.
The president had predicted that LSU would not perform well, a fact that was not forgotten by members of the team.
"I think Joe Biden had put somebody else to win the national championship," Reese said. "He didn’t even put us on his bracket to get out of Baton Rouge, so I was like, 'Bet.' … I think that he said we were going to lose to Michigan or something."
Reese then lashed out at a suggestion by the first lady that both LSU and the losing University of Iowa team should visit the White House, calling it a "joke."
"As soon as that happened, [the team] hit the group chat, like, 'What’re we doing? Are y’all trying to go?' … We made a lot of phone calls, and that’s why she wants to come and apologize," she said.
"I’m not going to lie to you because I don’t accept her apology. … I said what I said. … You felt like [Iowa] should’ve came because of sportsmanship; they can have that spotlight. We’ll go to the Obamas. We’ll see Michelle. We’ll see Barack," Reese insisted.
For her part, Biden was attacked on Twitter for her idea, including by black nationalist religious leader Bishop Talbert Swan, who tweeted, "Jill Biden is a white woman."
Jill Biden is a white woman.
Of course she wants the president to invite the team of predominantly white women that lost when the winning team of Black woman come to the White House.
She wants to give white women the same privilege that Black women earned.
This is America.
— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) April 4, 2023
NFL Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe also criticized the first lady during an episode of Fox Sports 1's "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed," saying, "Winners get a trophy. That's what life is about."
"Come on, Dr. Biden. You know better than this. Did you forget who helped put your husband in the White House?" Sharpe added, referring to the large number of African Americans who vote Democrat.
"You gonna find out a very serious, hard lesson in ’24. [Joe] will be like a Kentucky or Duke freshman. You’ll be one-and-done," he predicted.
Shannon Sharpe goes off on Jill Biden for wanting to invite Iowa and LSU to the White House pic.twitter.com/Z6BvZmmc1P
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 4, 2023
