NBA star Carmelo Anthony has blasted Trump’s administration for ‘completely turning their back’ on Puerto Rico after it got hammered by Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria.
Anthony appeared on CNN’s Van Jones Show, which aired Saturday night, and said he was ‘hurt’ by the government’s slow response, especially after Puerto Rico got slammed by Hurricane Maria, the worst natural disaster in its history.
‘To see our government turn their back to that, they’re American citizens. So if you turn your back to your own American citizens, then you can do anything,’ Anthony said during the interview.
Carmelo Anthony (left) and Kyrie Irving (right) attended Team USA’s practice in Las Vegas
Carmelo Anthony (pictured with the red hat) visited Puerto Rico a few weeks before Hurricane Irma made landfall
Carmelo Anthony (pictured in the suit) and wife La La Anthony (white gown) have been very active with assisting in the island’s recovery
Several thousand people lost their lives millions and were left without electricity for months as a result of the catastrophic storms towards the end of 2017.
Anthony has remained close to his Puerto Rican roots.
His father was born in the Caribbean Island and the 10-time All-Star has made it his responsibility over the years to travel down to Puerto Rico and help out with the youth, reconstructing rundown basketball courts.
In 2015, Anthony founded Puerto Rico FC, a club in the North American Soccer League.
Carmelo Anthony (pictured in the green t-shirt) met with kids at a soccer clinic when he announced he was purchasing Puerto Rico FC, a professional soccer club in the NASL
Carmelo Anthony (pictured) has always made sure to reach out to the youth in Puerto Rico
Carmelo Anthony (left) and Kevin Durant (right) shared a laugh during Team USA’s practice this week
‘That was something that I felt like it was a low blow to me and to all the Puerto Ricans down there because we can’t control Hurricane Maria, we just couldn’t control that. So the least you can do is send the resources down,’ the 15-year NBA veteran said.
A prolific scorer, Anthony’s greatest assist outside the basketball court was starting a fundraiser with a $50,000 donation last September.
‘We sent airplanes down there with supplies, tools down there,’ Anthony recalled. ‘We teamed up with a couple of other big companies trying to get the supplies down there. So it was just a lot. It was sad that we had to go through that in order to help people. You can’t do everything I get that. You can’t help everything and help everybody out’.
‘But the things and the people that really need attention … is who you supposed to be giving out attention to. As far as the government, as far as our leader of our country, Puerto Rico is part of this country and I just felt the government turned their back to that island.’
Trump came under fire for his response to the hurricane’s impact on Puerto Rico and how he appeared to not know that it was indeed a United States’ territory.
He said: ‘This is an island surrounded by water, big water, ocean water’ and added that local governments had been ‘totally and unfortunately unable to handle this catastrophic crisis on their own – just totally unable to.’