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LSU basketball star Angel Reese said she will accept an invitation to the White House despite her initial comments on the tradition usually reserved for the reigning national champions.
On Friday (April 7), Reese, who led the Tigers to the NCAA national championship, said she was "hurt" by Jill Biden suggesting that both LSU and Iowa visit the White House.
“At the beginning, we were hurt, it was emotional for us because we know how hard we worked all year for everything and just being able to see that, that hurt us in the moment,” Reese said, per ESPN.
However, the star forward said she's a team player and is now willing to participate in a White House visit.
“But just going back on it, you don’t get that experience ever so being able to go back, and I know my team probably wants to go for sure and my coaches is supportive of that so I’m going to do what’s best for the team and if they would like to go and we decide we’re going to go, then we’re going to go," Reese told ESPN. “But it was tough just seeing that in the beginning but I think we’ll all come together and I think it’ll be good.”
On Thursday (April 6), the LSU athletic department said it would accept a White House invite despite Reese's previous comments that indicated otherwise.
After Biden suggested that both the Hawkeyes and the Tigers receive an invite this year, Reese called the plan "a joke" and said on an Instagram post from "The Shade Room": “WE NOT COMING. period.”
Biden appeared to walk back the suggestion and apologize, but the star forward said on a podcast that the gesture was too little, too late.
“I don’t accept the apology because you said what you said … You can’t go back on certain things that you say … They can have that spotlight. We’ll go to the Obamas.’ We’ll go see Michelle. We’ll see Barack," Reese said on the “I AM ATHLETE” podcast.
Reese also previously said: “I just know if the roles were reversed, they wouldn’t be the same. If we were to lose, we would not be getting invited to the White House.”
Her statements on Friday seem to be a walk-back of her previous remarks.
With Reese and the athletic department seemingly on board, there is currently no set date for the White House visit, an LSU spokesman told The Associated Press.
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