RORY GETS HUMP AT TRUMP CRITICS
Ace happy to tee off with US President Heathrow toilet ‘terror’
JOE HINTON RORY McIlroy has hit back at trolls who criticised him for playing golf with Donald Trump.
The British ace was called “a fascist” and “a bigot” after joining the US president at his Trump International Golf Club last weekend.
But McIlroy has defended his actions – and said they were not an endorsement of the controversial Republican tycoon.
He said on Twitter: “I don’t agree with everything my friends or family say or do, but I still play golf with them.
“Last week, I was invited to play golf with the President of the United States. Whether you respect the person who holds the position or not, you respect the office that he holds.”
He said the game was “not an endorsement, nor a political statement of any kind. It was, quite simply, a round of golf ”.
McIlroy added: “I’ve travelled all over the world and have been fortunate enough to befriend people from many different countries, beliefs and cultures.
“To be called a fascist and a bigot by some people because I spent time in someone’s company is just ridiculous. I hope, to some degree, this clarifies my decision to accept the invitation.”
Yesterday, the Northern Irish star got more abuse after calling Mr Trump, above, a “phenomenon”.
McIlroy, 27, said: “I’ve said it to the man himself – on a Tuesday night at a tournament, if there was a live political debate, I would get room service, stick on CNN and just watch. It was pure entertainment.
“Even if you didn’t understand politics it was this complete phenomenon. The whole circus, this big show, is intriguing to watch.”
Web users immediately hit out. One wrote: “Well done Rory. Hope you get sacked by your sponsors. ”
Another added: “Oh do shut up you sanctimonious insect.” It came as anger grew over Mr Trump’s decision to bar media outlets including the BBC from his White House briefings. He claimed the media were “enemies of the people”. THESE photos show the aftermath of a bizarre “terror incident” at Heathrow Airport in which a disabled toilet was set alight with the phrase “Allahu Akbar” scrawled on the loo.
A bungling arsonist set fire to a bin inside a rest room at Terminal 3 on Tuesday.
One airport source told the Daily Star Sunday the vandal was seen on CCTV wearing hi-vis clothing.
His actions sparked an evacuation of the building, which is used by major carriers including American Airlines and Qantas. The source revealed: “It was chaotic. These days when an alarm or evacuation goes off in an airport, everyone’s first thought is JIMMY McCLOSKEY that there must have been some kind of terror-related incident.
“This won’t have done anything to calm nervous travellers.” The insider confirmed that the blaze happened in a “land side” toilet before security checks as the person involved had not managed to get through.
“Allahu Akbar” means “God is Greatest” in Arabic.
It was the phrase screamed by Islamist terrorists before they committed recent atrocities in Paris and Turkey. A spokesman for Heathrow said the fire was a police matter. A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed their officers and members of the airport’s specialist fire service attended but no arrests had been made. Meanwhile, three people were injured when a knife-carrying man drove a car into a pedestrian area in Heidelberg, Germany yesterday. He was shot and injured by police as he tried to flee.
Back in December an attacker drove a lorry into a Christmas market in Berlin killing 12 people.