After star criticizes president on CNN, Trump claims ‘dumb’ host Don Lemon ‘made LeBron look smart, which isn’t easy to do’

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Donald Trump attacked the basketball superstar LeBron James in a late-night Twitter rant on Friday about an interview the Los Angeles Lakers player did with Don Lemon on CNN.

Trump tweeted that Lemon “made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do”, in response to a conversation the two men had about Trump’s previous attacks on black athletes, including the football player Colin Kaepernick, who protested against racial injustice in the US by kneeling for the national anthem at NFL games.

James said Trump was “using sports to kinda divide us … Sports has never been something that divides people. It’s always been something that brings someone together”.

This prompted Trump to tweet:

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!

Mike is a reference to Michael Jordan and the eternal LeBron v Jordan debate.

The Republican governor of Ohio, James’s home state, defended the basketball player on Saturday morning. Governor John Kasich said: “Rather than criticizing @KingJames, we should be celebrating him for his charity work and efforts to help kids.”

And the interviewer, Lemon, responded to the insult on Saturday by referencing the Trump administration’s decision to separate migrant children from their parents and James’s announcement this week that he was opening a school in Cleveland. “Who’s the real dummy?” Lemon said. “A man who puts kids in classrooms or one who puts kids in cages? #BeBest.”

James, one of the most prominent athletes in the US, has been critical of Trump for years.

In September 2017, James called Trump a “bum” for rescinding his invitation to the Golden State Warriors to celebrate their basketball championship with a visit to the White House.

“Going to the White House was a great honor until you showed up!” James tweeted at the time.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. Photograph: Rick Loomis/Getty Images

When Trump said in 2017 NFL players should be “fired” for “disrespecting the flag” if they did not participate in the national anthem before games, James said: “He doesn’t understand the power that he has for being the leader of this beautiful country.

“He doesn’t understand how many kids, no matter the race, look up to the president of the United States for guidance, for leadership, for words of encouragement. He doesn’t understand that, and that’s what makes me more sick than anything.”

In June, while still playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers, James said that regardless of whether the Cavaliers or the Golden State Warriors triumphed in the NBA finals, neither team wanted an invitation to the White House.

Play Video 0:36 LeBron James on White House invitation: 'no one wants it anyway' – video

In an interview with the web series Uninterrupted in January, James said of Trump: “The number one job in America ... is someone who doesn’t understand the people, and really don’t give a fuck about the people.”



In February, James explained why he was critical of the president: “While we cannot change what comes out of that man’s mouth, we can continue to alert the people that watch us, that listen to us, that this is not the way.”