Trump Faces Mounting Pressure From The Sports World Over ‘Disinviting’ Tweet

After Trump’s outrage on Twitter on Saturday Morning, disinviting NBA star Stephen Curry to the White House, the sports world has erupted in rebellion against the President, with Le Bron James and Chris Paul being first in line to come to their fellow sportsman’s support.

Also commenting on the issue was retired Lakers star Kobe Bryant. “A POTUS whose name alone creates division and anger. Whose words inspire dissension and hatred can’t possibly “Make America Great Again”,” he tweeted back in reply to the President’s tweet.

Le Bron followed up on his tweet Saturday afternoon with a video, telling his fans that “this guy” [Trump] was trying to divide Americans.

“He’s now using sports as the platform to try to divide us,” James said in the video.

“We all know how much sports brings us together, how much passion it has, how much we love and care and, you know, the friendships and the love it creates and for him to try to use this platform to divide us even more, it’s not something that I can stand for.”

James also defended Colin Kaepernick and Jemele Hill.James and Curry, two of the game’s biggest names, are huge rivals on the court. But fans from both sides were happy to put the rivalry aside after James’ tweet in support of Curry.

Stephen Curry said he awoke Saturday morning to “about 20 text messages” from friends who were expressing their support for him. At first, he said, he had no idea what they were talking about because he had not checked social media. Then he saw President Trump’s tweet.

“Surreal,” Curry said. “I don’t know why he feels the need to target certain individuals rather than others,” Curry, a two-time N.B.A. most valuable player, said at a news conference after the team’s first practice of the season.

“I have an idea of why, but it’s kind of beneath the leader of a country to go that route. It’s not what leaders do.”