During Thursday’s episode of “The View,” co-host Whoopi Goldberg made the case for why the New York Knicks should visit the White House after noting that “no NBA team has ever accepted an invite” while Donald Trump was in office.
Goldberg surprised her fellow panelists and the audience when she said, “I want them to go,” after Knicks owner James Dolan confirmed that the team accepted an invite, though details have yet to be worked out.
“I want all those Black men to stand in our house and remind all of those people, as we tried to remind the vice president, that when you try to destroy one part of history, you’re destroying all of our histories,” she said, referring to Vice President JD Vance’s recent visit on the show.
“And they, as champions — not only as amazing basketball players, but as people who were down and came back up — this is what this looks like,” she added.
“So, I want them to go. I want them to go. If only so the kids know that nobody — nobody — can keep you down if you are rising up,” she said.
Though the Knicks ultimately triumphed 4-1 over the San Antonio Spurs in the finals, they trailed the Spurs by the first quarter in each game and overcame large deficits to secure their wins.
Before Goldberg’s comments, her fellow panelists shared their misgivings about the possible visit.
Co-host Sara Haines pointed out that Dolan and Trump’s friendship puts “players in a precarious position.”
“It’s not fair to take any of the flowers and the beauty of this moment and its unity and try to then place it on the players’ backs,” she said.
“I’m feeling two ways about it,” Joy Behar admitted. “Like, yes, maybe you have to respect the White House. You don’t have to respect who’s in the White House, though.”
Sunny Hostin agreed, saying she thinks “the previous five NBA champions crowned during the Trump administration” declined the invite “because [the president] politicizes the events that come before him. That’s one of the problems.”
You can see the complete segment below.