An NBA legend refuses to stay in any hotel owned by Donald Trump after the US President signed a highly controversial executive order.
The 47th US president is known for his love of golf, owning 16 courses across the world and regularly playing against A-list celebrities and sports stars.
There have, however, been some accusations of ‘cheating’ involving the 78-year-old – with Hollywood star Samuel L. Jackson receiving a huge bill after such an accusation.
One sport that Trump does not have the same kind of affiliation with is the NBA.
In 2020, the US President declared that the NBA was turning into a ‘police organisation’ after several players boycotted matches in protest against police violence in Wisconsin following the murders of George Floyd and Alvin Cole.
And NBA legends have mixed views about Trump.
In 2017, five-time NBA Champion Magic Johnson declared that he would no longer visit any hotels owned by the businessman-turned-president – having stayed in them on regular occasions in the past.
Johnson voted for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, and backed Kamala Harris against Trump in the 2024 election.
Speaking outside a hotel in January 2017, he told TMZ: “It’s wrong to discriminate against people.
“We have a lot of great Muslim brothers and sisters who are here and doing a wonderful job of being great Americans.
“He’s got to learn that you can’t just be a dictator. We’ve never had a president like that.
“I pray to God that something which click with him. Or somebody in his Cabinet can get to him to talk to him.”
Johnson was speaking after Trump signed an executive order to suspend the entry of refugees on immigrant and non-immigrant visas from seven predominantly Muslim countries for 90 days, in what was just his second week of presidency.
The White House claimed that the order was signed to ‘protect the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States’.
A month later, when asked by TMZ about the standard of Trump’s hotels and whether he was no longer staying at them, Johnson confirmed, and laughed before replying: “I voted for Hillary!”
