First Lady Melania Faces Backlash After Unveiling New White House Tennis Pavilion

Photo Credit: Google, Twitter/Tom Matzzie

Weeks before vacating the White House, Melania Trump unveiled a new tennis pavilion on the south grounds, announcing that it was ready for use.

The project involved redoing the existing tennis court and children’s garden, as well as building a new pavilion to replace the smaller structure.

On Monday, the first lady’s office stated that the architectural style of the White House was an inspiration for the pavilion’s design, particularly the East and West Wings.

The new building incorporates a colonnade, parapet wall and fanlight windows to give it the look and feel of the White House.

Photo Credit: Twitter/Tom Matzzie

However, the White House’s announcement was met with outrage, especially since the U.S. is in the midst of fighting the raging coronavirus pandemic.

Melania was compared to Marie Antoinette and her quote “Let them eat cake.”

An editor at The Daily Beast, Molly Jong-Fast, tweeted: “Oh Good, those people in their ICU Beds will feel so much better knowing that Melania has finished her tennis pavilion.”

Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and health economist with the Federation of American Scientists, wrote: “How many PPEs, tests, masks, contact tracers, and ICU beds could that have bought instead?”

One Twitter user referred to the first lady as “Melania Antoinette.”

Photo Credit: Twitter/Molly Jong-Fast

When the virus started spreading earlier in the year, Melania tweeted photos of herself wearing a hard hat as she reviewed blueprints for the pavilion.

She sparked outrage with the photos, and many called her insensitive.

She tweeted in response, “everyone who chooses to be negative & question my work at the @WhiteHouse to take time and contribute something good & productive in their own communities.”

On Monday, Melania thanked the “talented craftsmen” who worked on the pavillion as well as the “generous supporters of the White House.”

“It is my hope that this private space will function as both a place of leisure and gathering for future First Families,” she wrote.

Photo Credit: Twitter/Tom Matzzie

She broke ground for the pavilion project in October 2019, and the construction was done in partnership with the Trust for the National Mall and the National Park Service. The building was funded by private donations, and The White House has not disclosed its cost.

Sources: Yahoo