United States president Donald Trump has faced fierce backlash after he mocked Rob Reiner, the actor and legendary director, in the wake of his death.
Reiner and his wife Michele were found dead in their Los Angeles home on Sunday.
Their son, Nick Reiner, who had struggled with substance abuse, has been arrested on homicide charges and is being held on a US$4 million ($6 million) bond.
Rob Reiner was known as a director of beloved movies including When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride and Stand By Me.
Donald Trump's post
As tributes poured in from entertainers and politicians, Trump unleashed an extraordinary broadside, suggesting that Reiner brought on his own murder by criticising the US president.
"Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead in their home. Source: Getty / Walter McBride/WireImage
He was politically active, an outspoken supporter of progressive causes, and had warned that Trump was mounting an authoritarian takeover.
Trump, who frequently lashes out at his opponents and praises public figures who support him, provided no evidence that Reiner's political views contributed in any way to the couple's death.
Republican backlash
The comments were strongly criticised by two prominent right-wing Republicans, including congressman Thomas Massie.
"Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered," wrote Massie, who serves a House of Representatives district in Kentucky.
"This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies," wrote congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
Both Massie and Taylor Greene are Trump critics, a rarity within his party.
Reiner's death triggered an outpouring of tributes from prominent Democrats, including former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama, and former vice president Kamala Harris.
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