First lady Jill Biden has walked back her initial comments about inviting both NCAA women's basketball national champion LSU and runner-up Iowa to the White House. Does that mean Tigers star Angel Reese will accept the invite?
"We going to see," Reese told "The Paper Route" podcast.
MORE: Reese calls Jill Biden's suggestion to invite Iowa to White House 'a joke'
On Monday, Biden said that, in addition to inviting LSU, she wanted to invite Iowa to celebrate the Hawkeyes. Biden's press secretary, Vanessa Valdivia, appeared to walk back the comments later, saying they were only intended to "applaud the historic game and all women athletes" and then suggesting only LSU would be coming to the White House.
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.
— Vanessa Valdivia (@vvaldivia46) April 4, 2023
Reese isn't accepting Biden's apology, and now she's throwing out another suggestion for where LSU should celebrate its championship.
"I don't accept the apology because you said what you said. I said what I said and, like, you can't go back on certain things you say," Reese said. "I mean, you felt like they should've [been invited] because of sportsmanship. They can have that spotlight. We'll go to the Obamas, we'll see Michelle, we'll see Barack."
MORE: Caitlin Clark defends Angel Reese following taunting controversy
Reese isn't the only LSU player to have suggested going to visit the 44th president and his wife as opposed to the current president, Joe Biden. Guard Alexis Morris also suggested seeing the Obamas.
Michelle OBAMA can we (LSU NATIONAL CHAMPS) come celebrate our win at your house ?
— Lex Luthor (@AlexisMorrisWBB) April 4, 2023
Reese said that if the roles were reversed, and Iowa had won the national championship and LSU had lost, the Tigers would not have been suggested to be invited to the White House. She also pointed to the men's national championship, where UConn beat San Diego State and there was no mention of the Aztecs potentially going to Washington.
"I remember [Biden] made a comment about, 'Both teams should be invited because it was for sportsmanship.' And I'm like, are you saying [that] because of what I did? Stuff like that, it bothers me because you are a woman, at the end of the day, white, Black, it doesn't matter, you're a woman, you're supposed to be standing behind us before anything," Reese said, referring to her trash talk toward Iowa and its star, Caitlin Clark.
MORE: Angel Reese sounds off after Caitlin Clark taunt: 'I don’t fit the narrative'
"So it's hard to see things like that and not to comment back on it, but at the same time, I have the platform right now where I can speak out on it and a lot of people have had my back through it. So I'm proud to be in a situation like this. Nobody's giving her grace right now. Trust me, nobody's giving her grace and that's why she's trying to backtrack on what she said."
Reese also mentioned this wasn't the only time LSU has spurned the first lady. She said that Biden wanted to visit the locker rooms of both teams before the national championship game, but LSU declined the invitation to speak because of Joe Biden's bracket.
"I think Joe Biden had put somebody else to win the national championship. He didn't even put us on his bracket to get out of Baton Rouge, so I was like, 'Bet,'" Reese said. "I think he said we were going to lose to Michigan or something."
MORE: UConn's Jordan Hawkins excited for celebration with cousin Reese
Joe Biden indeed picked Michigan to beat LSU in the second round in his bracket. But if picking against LSU is a problem, then the team might also not want to visit Barack Obama, who picked Indiana to take down the Tigers in the Elite Eight.
It’s the best time of year! My #MarchMadness brackets will get busted soon enough, but here are my picks.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 15, 2023
Who do you have winning it all? pic.twitter.com/H3MdBkJCmY