First Lady Jill Biden caused an uproar when she suggested the defeated Iowa women’s basketball team visit the White House with the college women’s National Basketball Champions LSU.
But on Tuesday, she clarified what she meant through her press secretary Vanessa Valdivia.
Jill Biden “admires how far women have advanced in sports since the passing of Title IX,” the tweet read, adding, “Her 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.”
President Biden tweeted the same day that he was looking forward to welcoming the women’s NCAA champions to the White House and did not mention Iowa.
“Congrats to @LSUwbkb, who demonstrated excellence on and off the court. They showed us what it looks like to win with an unrelenting belief in themselves. And they did it in one of the most-watched women’s sports games in US history. You have an incredible school, @LSUpresident.”
According to ESPN, Jill Biden attended the championship game and watched LSU defeat Iowa—102-85 at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Sunday night.
The next day, speaking from Colorado’s state Capitol, she applauded Iowa’s sportsmanship and congratulated both teams on their performances.
“I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House; we always do. So, we hope LSU will come,” she said. “But, you know, I’m going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come too because they played such a good game.”
There’s been a lot of discussion surrounding the championship game, including talk of Catlin Clark and Angel Reese.
Reese was slammed for making the John Cena hand gesture at Clark, even though Clark has participated in trash talk and used the same gesture in earlier games.
Following Biden’s remarks about both teams visiting the White House, Reese tweeted: “A JOKE,” along with three rolling-on-the-floor-laughing emojis.
https://twitter.com/Reese10Angel/status/1643024890813874179?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1643024890813874179%7Ctwgr%5E6b2f346e9819965f21271cf1f526362bf691e3a5%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fballeralert.com%2Fprofiles%2Fblogs%2Fjill-biden-invites-losing-team-iowa-to-the-white-house-angel-reese-comments%2F
Clark has since commented on Reese’s criticism, saying, “I don’t think there should be any criticism for what she did.”
