The New York Times today looks at how some black celebrities who once were pals with Donald Trump now are keeping their distance.
Some of Mr. Trump's African-American friends and acquaintances say they are mystified by the candidate's sweeping attacks on minority groups. In addition to his comments about Muslims, he has said Mexico sends "rapists" and other criminals to the United States; has exaggerated the role of blacks in violent crime; and suggested a Black Lives Matter protester who interrupted one of his campaign rallies "should have been roughed up" by his supporters.
But Trump does have some African-American loyalists. Among those quoted in the story as backing Trump: boxing promoter Don King and Georgia Bulldog great Herschel Walker.
Mr. Walker and Mr. Trump, for example, came from very different places — Mr. Walker is from a tiny town in Georgia — but became fast friends. Mr. Trump once accompanied Mr. Walker and his wife at the time on a visit to Walt Disney World. Mr. Walker said he had taken Mr. Trump's children to the zoo and had visited his homes in Connecticut and Mar-A-Lago.
"We stayed together, and we always talked," Mr. Walker said. "We were always doing something. As of today, I call him a friend."
Walker made it known that he was backing Trump in September. He has been an active Republican on the state level, too, cutting an ad for Jack Kingston in the 2014 U.S. Senate race.
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