Warriors Won’t Visit White House After Trump Disinvites Curry

President Donald Trump elicited a backlash from some of professional sports’ biggest names on Saturday after he attacked football players who refuse to stand during the National Anthem in protest, and after the president rescinded a White House invitation to Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry.

The NBA champions Warriors team said they would not be going to the White House after Trump on Twitter said “Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!”

“We believe there is nothing more American than our citizens having the right to express themselves freely on matters important to them,” the NBA champions said in a statement. “We’re disappointed that we did not have an opportunity during this process to share our views or have open dialogue on issues impacting our communities that we felt would be important to raise.”

While it is customary for professional sports teams that have won titles to get an audience with the president, Curry told reporters Friday that he would sit out on any potential trip.

But Trump’s lashing out against certain professional athletes went further Saturday afternoon, when he tweeted that players who want “the privilege of making millions of dollars” in the NFL and other leagues then shouldn’t be allowed “to disrespect our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem.”

“If not, YOU’RE FIRED,” he said. “Find something else to do!”

Trump’s tweets come after a freewheeling political rally in Alabama where he blasted NFL players who kneel during the national anthem and called for them to be sacked.

His presidency has spurred some in the sports community to be more vocal about their political views.

It was enough to elicit an immediate response from one of the biggest names in sports, Cleveland Cavaliers star Lebron James, who directed a tweet at Trump that began, “U bum.”

James elaborated on his views on a video posted to sports website Uninterrupted. The four-time NBA MVP said he was frustrated “because this guy that we’ve put in charge has tried to divide us once again.”

“He’s now using sports as the platform to try to divide us. And we all know how much sports brings us together, how much passion it has, how much we love and care and the friendships and everything that it creates,” James said in the video. “For him to try and use this platform to divide us even more is not something I can stand for and is not something I can be quiet about.”

Retired NBA star Kobe Bryant said on Twitter that a president “whose words inspire dissension and hatred can’t possibly “Make America Great Again”.”

Curry told reporters Saturday that despite the president’s tweet singling him out his views had not changed. “It’s just kind of beneath I think a leader of a country to go that route. It’s not what leaders do,” Curry said.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr, one of those who have been critical of Trump’s policies, said earlier that the team had yet to receive an official invite from the White House after their NBA Finals win against the Cavaliers, but players would decide together whether or not to accept one.

Kerr told reporters on Saturday that his wife woke him up to tell him about the president’s tweet and added that he wasn’t surprised. “He was going to break up with us before we could break up with him,” Kerr said.

Though he had met with every president since Ronald Reagan and honored the institution of the presidency, Kerr said he and his players were put in a tough spot.

“Our differences I think in terms of our team and our organization’s values are so dramatically different — I’m talking in terms of inclusion and civil discourse and dignity,” Kerr said. “And it’s hard for us. Every day, we’re seeing the things he’s saying.”

Trump in his initial tweet was unclear whether he was withdrawing only Curry’s invitation or the entire team’s, and Kerr said that the Warriors had planned to discuss the issue on Saturday until they saw the tweet.

Dallas Mavericks v Golden State Warriors Dallas Mavericks v Golden State Warriors

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors reacts during their game against the Dallas Mavericks at ORACLE Arena. Getty Images

The team said Saturday that instead of going to the White House, it will make a trip to Washington, D.C., in February to “celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion — the values that we embrace as an organization.”

On Friday, Curry told ESPN that no matter what the team decided, they would be guided by the hope of sending “a statement that hopefully encourages unity, encourages us to appreciate what it means to be American and stand for something.”

Curry, a two-time MVP who inked the first $200 million contract in NBA history this summer, is not known to court controversy and has become a popular pitchman for Under Armour and Nissan’s Infiniti line. The 29-year-old has also burnished a reputation as a family man with his TV chef and wife, Ayesha, and their two young children.

Trump’s earlier tweet was met with sharp attacks by other basketball players, including James and Curry’s teammate, Draymond Green.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement that “I was in favor of the team visiting the White House and thought it was a rare opportunity for these players to share their views directly with the President. I am disappointed that that will not happen.”

But Silver added: “More importantly, I am proud of our players for taking an active role in their communities and continuing to speak out on critically important issues.”

Athletes have previously declined invitations to the White House when their team is being honored, a tradition that dates back to the Reagan administration.

In January, most members of the Chicago Cubs visited President Barack Obama’s White House — only five players missed the trip — to celebrate their World Series win. But many chose not to return to Washington again to meet Trump in June.

Related: Brady Pulls Out of Patriots’ White House Ceremony, Trump Stays Mum on QB

None of the Cubs openly said politics was the reason for their absence.

“I’m trying to see like the dinosaur museums,” Cubs reliever Carl Edwards Jr. told reporters when asked whether he would attend.

In April, six members of the New England Patriots skipped a Rose Garden celebration for their Super Bowl victory, with four of them — Martellus Bennett, LeGarrette Blount, Devin McCourty and Chris Long — saying Trump as president influenced their decisions. Tom Brady also did not join, but the longtime quarterback said he had a family issue that required his attention.

The Warriors previously visited the White House in 2016 under Obama after winning the 2015 NBA Championship Finals.

Trump’s disdain for certain athletes was also on display Friday, when he vented about his belief that football players who don’t stand during the national anthem in protest should be fired.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you’d say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired,” Trump told the enthusiastic crowd, also mentioning that he didn’t think the sport was violent enough.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell hit back at Trump’s criticism, calling his comments “divisive” and showing an “unfortunate lack of respect.”

Trump’s remarks expose “a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities,” Goodell added.

Several athletes, including a handful of NFL players, have refused to stand during “The Star-Spangled Banner” to protest of the treatment of blacks by police. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick started the trend last year when he played for the San Francisco 49ers.

Jemele Hill, the ESPN SportsCenter anchor who called Trump a white supremacist to robust criticism from the White House, fired off a few tweets in response to the president’s tweet about Curry. Her first tweet welcomed Curry to the increasingly less exclusive club of people the president has attacked on Twitter: