US President Donald Trump has withdrawn White House offer

DONALD Trump has been slammed after starting a bitter spat with NBA and NFL stars that prompted LeBron James to step in.

No visit to my house for you Warriors.

PRESIDENT Donald Trump spent the day lashing out at NFL players for not standing during the national anthem and has now taken aim at the NBA champions and two-time MVP winner Stephen Curry.

An American sporting tradition of championship winning teams attending the White House and spending time with the president has been a major talking point since Trump took office.

Opening their 2017/18 NBA season with a media day, the Golden State Warriors superstar point guard was asked about his thoughts on the team partaking in the tradition and his answer left little to where he stood on the matter.

Stephen Curry pretty forceful on his thoughts about Trump and possible White House visit pic.twitter.com/Ubj6V91EsL

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) September 22, 2017

Curry isn’t the only player at the Warriors holding the same stance with Kevin Durant also stating that “it’s going to be tough to change my mind (on attending), but we’ll talk about it as a team”.

The Warriors said they were going to meet and decide as an organisation if they want to visit the White House like NBA champions typically do.

That decision now seems to have been taken out of their hands as Trump — who’d clearly heard about the Warriors players indecision — used his beloved twitter account to proclaim his thoughts to the world.

Trump declared the entire Warriors organisation’s offer to tour the White House has been revoked because of Curry.

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the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!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

The President continued his rant on Sunday morning (AEST).

If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL,or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017

...our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU'RE FIRED. Find something else to do!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017

Roger Goodell of NFL just put out a statement trying to justify the total disrespect certain players show to our country.Tell them to stand!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017

As the social media landscape is prone to do the reactions of the news came in thick and fast, with many poking fun at the President’s late withdrawal.

Respected filmmaker Ava DuVernay accused the 71-year-old of “declaring war against black people with opinions” (even if she misspelt “war”) after he attacked Curry and NFL star Colin Kaepernick.

He's not declaring war on NFL and NBA. Owners are his donors. He's declaring way against black people with opinions. https://t.co/lnEIKs1e9I

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) September 23, 2017

NBA icon LeBron James also took a huge swing at Mr Trump.

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

James took to social media again on Sunday to clarify why he was so upset.

“It’s basically at a point where I’m a little frustrated because this guy we’ve put in charge has tried to divide us once again,” James said in a video uploaded to Twitter.

“Obviously, we know what happened with Charlottesville (where white supremacists clashed with protesters) and the divide that caused and now it’s even hit more home for me because now he’s using sports as the platform to try and divide us and we all know how much sports brings us together, how much passion it has, how much we love and care, the friendships it creates. And for him to try and use this platform to divide us more is not something I can stand for and it’s not something I can be quiet about.

“You look at him asking the NFL owners to get rid of players off the field because they’re exercising their rights and that’s not right. Then when I wake up and see a colleague of mine has been uninvited to something he didn’t even want to go to in the first place, to the White House, there’s something I can’t stand for.

“We’ve got (ESPN’s) Jemele Hill and (NFL star) Colin Kaepernick and all these people are speaking up, it’s for the greater cause, it’s for us to all come together. It’s not about division, it’s not about a divide. We, as American people, need to come together even stronger because this is a critical time and me being in the position that I am need to voice this. Love you all, man.”

"It’s not about dividing. We as American people need to come together even stronger.” — @KingJames responds to @realDonaldTrump’s comments. pic.twitter.com/UHpzXpb42K

— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) September 23, 2017

Golden State later issued a response to Trump’s tweet about withdrawing his invitation to the White House.

“While we intended to meet as a team at the first opportunity we had this morning to collaboratively discuss a potential visit to the White House, we accept that President Trump has made it clear that we are not invited. We believe there is nothing more American than our citizens having the right to express themselves freely on matters important to them,” the statement said.

“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.

“In lieu of a visit to the White House, we have decided that we’ll constructively use our trip to the nation’s capital in February to celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion — the values that we embrace as an organisation.”

The Warriors, from Steve Kerr to Kevin Durant, had already been pretty clear that they weren’t going to go to WH if invited anyway.

— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) September 23, 2017

"You can't fire me. I quit." https://t.co/5aBaFqhRnb

— Mike Prada (@MikePradaSBN) September 23, 2017

Ah, the old "You can't quit, you're fired!" but for the NBA. I hope Steph can recover and enjoy the rest of his weekend.

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) September 23, 2017

It looks like Golden State can cancel that team vote now. And, there was no hesitation from Steph. https://t.co/j48SIOjbt2

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) September 23, 2017

We can’t imagine the offer of a visit to the White House being withdrawn will upset the Warriors players as they begin to ramp up for their title defence in season 2017/18.

TRUMP LASHES OUT AT NFL PLAYERS

Possibly the most polarising NFL photo from 2016.

US President Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at pro football players who don’t stand during the national anthem — and urged team owners to remove those silent protesters from the field.

Trump, appearing at a campaign rally for US Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) said he wished NFL suits would take a hard-line stance against players who take a knee while “The Star-Spangled Banner” is played before kick-off.

“We’re proud of our country, we respect our flag,” Trump told supporters in Huntsville.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when someone disrespects our flags to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now! Out. He’s fired! He’s fired!”

Trump then pranced around the stage, arms extended, to soak up wild applause from supporters chanting, “USA, USA, USA!”

Trump predicted that an NFL owner will take such action — although the league is arguably doing that already, by keeping former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick off the field.

“You know some owner’s going to do that,” Trump said. “He’s going to say, `That guy who disrespects our flag, he’s fired!‘ ”

The president then went on to mock the NFL and its TV ratings which are “down massively, massively.”

Trump appeared to take credit for pro football’s declining TV popularity: “The No. 1 reason happen to be that they (TV viewers) like watching what’s happening with yours truly.”

The former USFL owner also whined that the NFL is doing too much to protect players from violent hits.

“If you hit too hard … 15 yards, throw him out of the game!” said Trump, the former New Jersey Generals owner. “They’re (refs and league officials) ruining the game, right?”

President Donald Trump wants dissenting NFL stars to be scrapped.