Presidents and first ladies make occasional appearances at sporting events, and, more often than not, the crowds are at least respectful and cordial toward them. So it says something about what people think of the current administration when First Lady Jill Biden appeared at an NFL game and fans booed her — at least that’s what we’re hearing.
On Sunday night, Eagles fan Jill Biden came out onto the field as an honorary captain for the coin toss and to lead fans in the team’s “Fly Eagles Fly” theme song.
.@FLOTUS leads the crowd in #FlyEaglesFly ahead of kickoff. #DALvsPHI on NBC and @peacock. pic.twitter.com/MqE5cuIwVO
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) October 17, 2022
Notice how the announcer went out of his way to refer to her as “Dr.” Jill Biden, as though people regularly clamor for the services of someone with an Ed.D. degree. But I digress.
You can hear Eagles fans signing along boisterously to “Fly Eagles Fly,” but what you don’t hear are the boos that many fans reported on Twitter.
FLOTUS Dr. Jill Biden gets booed. Being an "Eagles fan" didn't save her #DALvsPHI
— John McMullen (@JFMcMullen) October 17, 2022
#Eages fans just booed Dr. Jill Biden who was on the field for the coin toss. Those boos were promptly followed by "Dallas Sucks" chants. Crazy! #FlyEaglesFly
— Michael Greger (@mike_greger) October 17, 2022
A stadium full of Eagles fans booed Jill Biden tonight, they must all be from the 5 surrounding counties.
— PhillyGodfather ® Sports Bettor (@phillygodfather) October 17, 2022
Jill Biden officially got more boos then the Dallas Cowboys in Philly at an Eagles game. #LetsGoBuffalo
— Gary Johnson (@bearstaff) October 17, 2022
Philly just BOO’d Jill Biden BAD. 😂 #FlyEaglesFly
— Clay Harbor (@clayharbs82) October 17, 2022
You might be wondering why there’s no video of the booing since there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence — even from journalists. You’re not the only one.
“But for some reason, when videos come out now within seconds of things happening and this is at an NFL game, there doesn’t appear to be a video yet,” points out Nick Arama at Red State. “The local reporters/NFL writers are reporting it so it happened.”
“Of course, videos of this have been tough to find (feel free to come up with your own reason as to why that is),” writes Matt Reigle at Outkick.
Related: Happy Anniversary to ‘Let’s Go Brandon!’
We don’t know enough to say for sure that social media is suppressing videos of the booing, although it’s not outside the realm of possibility that Big Tech would crack down on any footage that makes the First “Doctor” look bad.
It’s not hard to imagine that a member of the Biden administration would get a less-than-stellar reception at a large gathering of people. After all, people all over the country are feeling the pain that administration policies have inflicted. This meme using a photo of Biden with NBA star Joel Embiid at Sunday night’s game says it all:
https://t.co/ylJ8G24cgO pic.twitter.com/WWc6vqGpbl
— e-beth (@ebeth360) October 17, 2022
For over a year now, we’ve heard stories of crowds at sporting events chanting “F*** Joe Biden.” Last October, thanks to an NBC reporter at a NASCAR event, we discovered a family-friendly version of that chant in “Let’s Go Brandon.”
And “Let’s Go Brandon” went viral and has had astonishing staying power. Maybe it wouldn’t still be a phenomenon if the White House weren’t continuing to inflict damage on the American people and reacting in the most tone-deaf ways to every issue.
Nobody can say that Jill Biden is off-limits either. The White House has trotted her out in an official capacity multiple times, so she’s as much a part of the administration as her husband is. She’s not exactly a wallflower when it comes to policy either, so Eagles fans aren’t crazy for treating her as a surrogate for the president.
Say what you want about whether booing is bad form or not, but it’s definitely understandable that the fans at Lincoln Financial Field wanted to express their opinion of the First Lady and the administration she represents.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member