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Kevin Durant says he won’t visit the White House because of Donald Trump

"I don't respect who's in office right now."

Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant gestures as he holds the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award after Game 5 of basketball's NBA Finals between the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Oakland, Calif., June 12, 2017. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant gestures as he holds the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award after Game 5 of basketball's NBA Finals between the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Oakland, Calif., June 12, 2017. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Back in June, Kevin Durant led the Golden State Warriors to their second NBA title in the last three years, dispatching LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games and being named MVP of the finals.

Traditionally, championship teams from all levels of organized sports — from Super Bowl winners to Little League World Series champions — are invited to the White House to meet the president, an honor that stretches back to the 1800s. But with Donald Trump currently occupying the Oval Office, athletes—particularly athletes of color who worry, correctly, the president has cozied up to white supremacists—are balking at the notion of a photo op with the current president.

“I don’t respect who’s in office right now,” Durant told ESPN on Thursday. “I don’t agree with what he agrees with, so my voice is going to be heard by not doing that.”

In telegraphing his intention to skip a visit to the White House, Durant also cited other athletes like Colin Kaepernick, LeBron James, and Chris Paul who have similarly spoken up on issues of race and police brutality. Among the five major professional sports in the United States, the NBA (and WNBA) has offered the friendliest confines for athletes to voice their opinions publicly. After a rash of police killings of unarmed black men three years ago, star players and even entire teams wore t-shirts with messages like “I can’t breathe”—a reference to Eric Garner’s last words before he died while being violently arrested by the NYPD in 2014—during warm-ups before games.

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But even by NBA standards, Durant’s comments to ESPN were far more direct than most political statements issued by athletes. When asked if Trump himself was responsible for the rise in racial tensions, Durant pulled no punches.

“He’s definitely driving it,” Durant said of Trump. “I feel ever since he’s got into office, or since he ran for the presidency, our country has been so divided, and it’s not a coincidence. When [Barack] Obama was in office, things were looking up. We had so much hope in our communities where I come from because we had a black president, and that was a first. So to see that and to be where we are now, it just felt like we took a turn for the worse, man.”

Predictably, the garbage sports fans of the internet were not pleased with Durant’s comments, and took to social media to criticize the star forward. Unlike other athletes, Durant wasn’t about to let critics have the last word though.

Durant made a point not to speak for the rest of his team, though he did suggest his Warriors teammates supported his decision and planned to follow suit. Steph Curry told reporters back in June he probably wouldn’t accept a White House invitation, and has previously called Donald Trump an ass.