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Horror novelist Stephen King fumes at 'racist' Maine governor Paul LePage
Stephen King, the horror novelist, branded the governor of Maine a "racist and bigot" on Sunday, after he described black and Hispanic people as "the enemy".
Paul LePage, the Republican governor of Maine, where Mr King resides, sparked an outcry last Wednesday after saying that "you try to identify the enemy and the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority of people coming in, are people of colour or people of Hispanic origin".
A furious Mr King, the author of more than 50 novels, furiously responded to the remarks on Twitter, writing: "Our governor, Paul LePage, is a bigot, a homophobe, and a racist. I think that about covers it."
It marks the second war of words this month involving Mr LePage, who is known for his controversial outbursts.
He was recently accused of becoming "unhinged" after unleashing a foul-mouthed tirade on Drew Gattine, a Democratic congressman.
The governor had left a voicemail on the mobile phone of Mr Gattine, who he claimed had accused him of being a racist.
"I want you to prove that I'm a racist," Mr LePage told him, adding that he had spent his life helping black people and calling Gattine a vulgar name related to oral sex.
"I want you to record this and make it public because I am after you."
After leaving the voicemail, Mr LePage invited reporters to the governor's mansion, where he said he wished he could turn back time so he and Gattine could face off in a "duel".
"When a snot-nosed little guy from Westbrook calls me a racist, now I'd like him to come up here because, tell you right now, I wish it were 1825," he said. "And we would have a duel, that's how angry I am, and I would not put my gun in the air, I guarantee you, I would not be (Alexander) Hamilton. I would point it right between his eyes."
The voicemail followed another controversy in which LePage, who is white, said at a town hall meeting in Maine that he had a collection of photographs of drug dealers arrested in the state, and that 90 per cent of them "were black and Hispanic people."