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LeBron James calls Donald Trump a 'bum' in escalating row between White House and sports stars
America's highest-paid sports star called Donald Trump a "bum", on Saturday, amid an increasingly heated war of words between the president and his country's leading sports stars.
Basketball and American Football athletes turned on Mr Trump on Saturday, with an outpouring of anger at the president's words.
LeBron James, basketball star of the Cleveland Cavaliers, poured fuel on the fire and attacked Mr Trump after he criticised Stephen Curry, a fellow basketball player.
Curry's team, the Golden State Warriors, won last year's league and were expected to visit the White House in celebration.
On Friday Curry said that the team had not yet decided whether to attend, but that he would not be present.
"By acting and not going, hopefully that will inspire some change when it comes to what we tolerate in this country and what is accepted and what we turn a blind eye to," he said.
"It's not just the act of not going. There are things you have to do on the back end to actually push that message into motion."
Mr Trump then replied by rescinding Curry's invitation.
James jumped in, laughing at the president and pointing out that he was revoking the invitation after Curry had declined it.
"Going to the White House was a great honor until you showed up," he wrote.
James was an enthusiastic Hillary Clinton supporter, appearing onstage with her at rallies.
The team coach, Steve Kerr, has also been one of Mr Trump's most searing critics within the sport, describing him as a "blowhard."
"Frankly, I think it's why Trump couldn't be more ill-suited to be president, because he's a blowhard," he said earlier this year.
"You don't see some of the qualities you talk about, the resilience, the ability to communicate, the compassion. None of that.
"To be a great leader, there have to be some qualities in there.
"Has anyone ever thought that Donald Trump was a great leader?"
The row with the basketball players comes hot on the heels of a spat Mr Trump began with his country's American Football stars.
On Friday night, at a rally in Alabama, he called on owners of teams to sack their players if they refused to stand for the national anthem.
Last year Colin Kaepernick hit the headlines when he began silently protesting during the national anthem, in response to a wave of killings of black men by white police.
Mr Trump told the Alabama crowd: "Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'get that son of a bitch off the field right now - he's fired."
Roger Goodell, commissioner of the National Football League, said that Mr Trump's remarks showed ignorance and a "lack of respect".
"Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities," he said.
Mr Trump hit back on Twitter, accusing Mr Goodell of trying to justify the "disrespect certain players show to our country."