Hollywood has erupted at Donald Trump after the President mocked the murder of Rob Reiner and his wife.
He wrote on Truth Social on Monday that the director had passed away ‘due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome.’
Reiner and his wife, Michele, were found stabbed to death at their Los Angeles home on Sunday. Their son, Nick, has been arrested in connection with the killings.
Trump’s highly insensitive post drew an immediate backlash from those who knew him best in Hollywood, as well as among Republicans in Washington, DC.
‘What a disgusting and vile statement,’ Patrick Schwarzenegger reacted to Trump.
TV host Piers Morgan wrote on X: ‘This is a dreadful thing to say about a man who just got murdered by his troubled son. Delete it, Mr President.’
Whoopi Goldberg paid an emotional tribute to Reiner on The View and followed it with a furious rebuke for the President.
‘I was lucky enough to get directed by him in Ghosts of Mississippi,’ Goldberg said. ‘He was also an outspoken activist and quite a guy, quite an amazing man.’
‘I don’t understand the man in that White House, because he talked so much about Charlie Kirk and caring, and suddenly this is what he puts out. Have you no shame? No shame at all? Can you get any lower? I don’t think so,’ she added.
Comedian Bridget Phetasy said: ‘No one has worse TDS than Trump.’
Actor and Trump supporter Rob Schneider wrote on Sunday: ‘I am deeply saddened. Every life is sacred and given by God, our creator. One of the most accomplished American directors who ever lived, his movies have been adored by generations.’
Several Republicans condemned the President’s statement.
‘Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered,’ GOP Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky wrote on X.
‘I guess my elected GOP colleagues, the VP, and White House staff will just ignore it because they’re afraid? I challenge anyone to defend it.’
Republican Congressman Don Bacon said: ‘I’d expect to hear something like this from a drunk guy at a bar, not the President of the United States. Can the President be presidential?’
Former Trump ally, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, also went after Trump’s harsh remarks.
‘Rob Reiner and his wife were tragically killed at the hands of their own son, who reportedly had drug addiction and other issues, and their remaining children are left in serious mourning and heartbreak.’
‘This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies. Many families deal with a family member with drug addiction and mental health issues. It’s incredibly difficult and should be met with empathy especially when it ends in murder.’
The Reiners’ son Nick, 32, is in custody and has been booked for murder after the Hollywood director and his wife were found knifed to death, sources have told the Daily Mail.
They allegedly had their throats slit after a heated argument with a relative, understood to be Nick, turned deadly at their $13.5 million Los Angeles mansion on Sunday afternoon.
Reiner made many of the best-known movies of the 1980s and 1990s, including Stand By Me and The Princess Bride, legal thriller A Few Good Men, and romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally.
Michele, a photographer, shot Trump’s portrait for his magnum opus, The Art of the Deal.
