Continuing a streak of picking fights with famous athletes, President Donald Trump on Saturday claimed that he rescinded the White House invitation to the Golden State Warriors after some of the basketball team’s most prominent players said they had no interest in meeting with him.
“Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team,” Trump said on Twitter. “Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!”
Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
Curry, a two-time MVP, and Warriors coach Steve Karr told the press on Friday that they were unsure if they would attend.
“I don’t want to go,” Curry said, according to USA Today.
“We don’t stand for basically what our President has – the things that he’s said and the things that he hasn’t said in the right times, that we won’t stand for it,” Curry said, in an apparent reference to Trump’s subdued criticism of the armed white nationalists who took to the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia in August for a bloody rally.
The team later released a statement saying that they plan to “constructively use our trip to the nation’s capital in February to celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion” rather than meeting with the President at the White House.
This exchange of words came as the National Football League was criticizing Trump’s “divisive comments” about players who have taken to kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial inequality.
The President told an Alabama rally crowd on Friday that any “son of a bitch” who does so should be fired.
Other giants in the sports world weighed in on Trump’s latest feud. Both ESPN anchor Jemele Hill and Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James pointed out that Trump was trying to take credit for disinviting athletes who had already rejected him.
“U bum,” James wrote in a tweet. “@StephenCurry30 already said he ain’t going! So therefore ain’t no invite.”
U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!
— LeBron James (@KingJames) September 23, 2017
This post has been updated.
All net.
LeBron for the win.
Like it had eyes.
My husband had just read LeBron’s tweet before I saw it here. What a well-deserved zinger! It made me laugh out loud.
Well done, sir!!!
Trump is such a racist, ignorant asshole. He has greatly diminished the office of POTUS and all that have given their blood, sweat and tears for this country.
Shameful, and shame on republicans for continuing this farce.
U bum. Couldn’t be better said.
ETA: Meantime, Trump;s unloading on McCain too. Meet the new Kelly Whitehouse. same as the old Whitehouse.