Grounds for impeachment? Trump calls Meryl Streep ‘over-rated’
President elect Donald Trump has lashed out the most Oscar nominated actress in history as “over-rated”.
The next POTUS was responding to Streep’s speech at the Golden Globes, in which she said her heart had been broken when he appeared to make fun of a disabled reporter.
“I was never mocking anyone,” Mr. Trump said.
“I was calling into question a reporter who had gotten nervous because he had changed his story,” arguing that the reporter had been trying to back away from an article he wrote in September 2001 about the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and elsewhere that month.
“People keep saying I intended to mock the reporter’s disability, as if Meryl Streep and others could read my mind, and I did no such thing,” he said in the interview.
“And remember, Meryl Streep introduced Hillary Clinton at her convention, and a lot of these people supported Hillary,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Ms. Streep’s remarks at the Democratic National Convention last summer on behalf of his opponent, Mrs. Clinton.
Later Monday morning, Mr. Trump, in a series of tweets, called Ms. Streep “one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood,” and “a Hillary flunky who lost big.”
He also reiterated his argument that he had not mocked the reporter “but simply showed him ‘grovelling.’”
Meryl Streep has said Donald Trump’s attack of a disabled reporter “kind of broke” her heart.
Users responded with outrage at Trump’s comments on the highly decorated actress.
Donald Trump has called Meryl Streep 'overrated'. SURELY THIS IS GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT.
— Colum McGuire (@ColumMcGuire) January 9, 2017
Your daily reminder that Meryl Streep could play Batman and be the right choice.— David Mack (@davidmackau) January 9, 2017
Donald Trump called Meryl Streep, one of the greatest actresses in the whole of humanity, "overrated"
If you need further proof he's a liar— FJ the Hygenic, Washer of Legs & Feet (@FeministaJones) January 9, 2017
The actress, who was collecting the Cecille B DeMille Award at last night’s Golden Globes, was visibly emotional and did not refer to the President-Elect by name.
In November 2015, Mr Trump mocked New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski’s disability in a rally to secure the Republican nomination.
The speech has been widely condemned across the political spectrum and Meryl said it “sank its hook in my heart”.
“It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter, someone he outranked in privilege, power and the capacity to fight back,” she said.
“It kind of broke my heart when I saw it and I still can’t get it out of my head because it wasn’t in a movie.
“It was real life.”
The nine-time Golden Globe winner didn’t mention Mr Trump by name but that insisted bullying was not acceptable – especially in high-profile people.
“This instinct to humiliate when it’s modelled by someone in the public platform by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing,” she added.
According to the New York Times, Mr Trump said he hadn’t seen the remarks but wasn’t surprised by an attack from “liberal movie people”.
The 67-year-old actress ended her speech with a tribute to Carrie Fisher.
She said: “We should all be very proud of the work Hollywood honours here tonight.
“As my friend, the dear departed Princess Leia said to me once, ‘Take your broken heart. Make it into art.’
“Thank you, friend.”
Carrie died last month after suffering a heart attack during a flight to Los Angeles.
Meryl, who is a longtime supporter of LGBT rights, is being honoured this year by the Human Rights Campaign for her work on equality.
Watch Meryl’s speech in full below
