By Perry Green, AFRO Sports Editor , pgreen@afro.com
Most prominent Black pro athletes don’t like President Donald Trump, for obvious reasons. Since he began his campaign for the presidency, Trump has used his platform to fuel racism and division within the U.S., and superstar ballers like LeBron James and Steph Curry haven’t been afraid to call him out on his highly controversial rhetoric.
But there’s one high profiled Black athlete who recently told reporters that he not only respects Trump, but also views him as a friend and even plays golf with him.
Tiger Woods declined to criticize President Trump for his harsh rhetoric towards minorities recently. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
“…I’ve known Donald for a number of years,” superstar golfer Tiger Woods said at press conference following a golf tournament this past weekend, according to Yahoo Sports. “We’ve played golf together. We’ve had dinner together. I’ve known him pre-presidency and obviously during his presidency.”
When a reporter asked Woods how he felt about Trump’s offensive and threatening comments towards minorities, especially towards immigrants, Woods passed on criticizing the President.
“Well, he’s the President of the United States,” Woods said. “You have to respect the office. No matter who is in the office, you may like, dislike his personality or the politics, but we all must respect the office.”
Trump, in response, took to Twitter Monday to compliment Woods for his comments.
“The Fake News Media worked hard to get Tiger Woods to say something that he didn’t want to say,” Trump tweeted. “Tiger wouldn’t play the game – he is very smart. More importantly, he is playing great golf again!
Tiger’s passiveness towards Trump may not be surprising to most in the African-American community. He once had Blacks folks puzzled years ago when he said during an interview with Oprah Winfrey early in his career that he doesn’t view himself as Black or an African American, but instead as multiracial.
Woods told Oprah he created a custom term of race for himself, called “Cablinasian, which represents the Caucasian, Black, Indian and Asian in his blood.
