Report: Important Pittsburgh figure will 'take a knee' on White House visit

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto says he will not attend the Penguins’ Oct. 10 White House visit because of recent tweets and comments made by President Donald Trump.

The Democratic mayor did accompany the NHL team when they met with President Barack Obama following last year’s Stanley Cup championship.

However, Peduto says he’s not going this year because of Trump’s tweets criticizing NFL players for kneeling or otherwise protesting during the national anthem.

Peduto mentioned that the visit could bring negative attention to the city so he’ll ”take a knee on this one and stay home.”

The team officially addressed the “elephant in the room” this weekend when they announced that they will in fact accept an invitation from Trump. 

The short statement from the team’s PR staff defended the longstanding tradition of championship teams visiting the White House and looked like an attempt to avoid politicizing the event… unfortunately the opposite seems to have transpired for the Pens.