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Author Stephen King is facing backlash after dragging Haitians into a joke he made about President Donald Trump.
On Wednesday (May 7), King, a vocal critic of the Republican party, made his controversial joke in a Threads post, calling back to Trump's false claims of Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
“Why did Donald J. Trump cross the road?" King wrote in apparent reference to the "Why did the chicken cross the road" joke. "To see Haitians eating pets on the other side.”
King's comment sparked backlash across the aisle, with some social media users calling for a boycott of King's books and others saying he took the joke too far.
“This is not the way to be an ally. You can punch up without kicking down at the same time,' one person commented.
"There's still time to delete this," another user said.
"This may be satire, but you should know your audience better," a third individual said.
Despite the backlash, King doubled down on his joke in a follow-up post on Sunday (May 11).
“The joke was about Trump. If you don’t get that, you should see a doctor and get your sense of humor checked," King wrote alongside a meme that read: “Anyone else notice how all of a sudden no one’s eating your cats and dogs anymore? No one’s performing sex change operations in schools or aborting babies after birth anymore. The price of eggs doesn’t matter, and a recession isn’t a bad thing, it’s just a necessary growing pain.”
The author again caught heat for his response to the backlash.
“Rather than seeing you made a mistake and been an adult about it, you’re doubling down. As most White Men do. How predictable,” one person wrote.
“It wasn’t just a bad joke but it was racist one. I thought a writer of your merit would have more self awareness. You’re not above criticism. Do better," another said.
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