The Golden State Warriors have not made a final decision on whether they will accept an invitation to meet with Donald Trump at the White House to commemorate their NBA championship, but if they do, count Andre Iguodala out.
The Warriors small forward was asked by USA Today’s Sam Amick whether he would accept an invitation from the White House, to which he responded “hell nah.” He continued by saying that racism has gotten worse in America since Trump took office.
“I think it’s just the ignorance, the convenient ignorance,” he said, adding, “[It’s] not to say that people aren’t aware, but they just don’t want to address it [because] they don’t want to be attached to it so they ignore a lot of the bad things that happen. I feel like there are actions that occur, that continue the dividing of everyone. And I think that’s done on purpose.”
Other members of the Warriors, who celebrated their 2015 championship with Barack Obama, voiced their disapproval of the current president. Head coach Steve Kerr labeled Trump a “blowhard” in another USA Today interview last month, while team captain and league MVP Stephen Curry responded to Under Armor CEO Kevin Plank’s description of Trump as “a real asset to our country” by saying, “I agree… if you remove the ‘et’ from asset.”
On Tuesday, the Warriors released a statement saying they had not received a White House invitation but would “make those decisions when and if necessary.”
We have already seen championship-winning athletes boycott Trump’s White House earlier this year, as some members of the New England Patriots skipped out on the D.C. trip after winning the Super Bowl. A viral New York Times picture showed a comparison between the Patriots’ White House visit under Obama and their visit under Trump, showing significantly more people in the photo with Obama. The Patriots said the photo needed additional context, claiming that the Obama photo contained members of the team’s staff who were seated for the Trump visit.