Diego Maradona Reportedly Denied Entry Into U.S. For Calling Trump A ‘Puppet’

Diego Maradona seems like the type of person who would ostensibly be allowed to visit many different countries, although the Donald Trump-led United States is not one of them.

Maradona banned from entering US news

The 57-year-old Argentine soccer legend has reportedly been denied entry into the U.S., according to his lawyer.

Maradona — who captained Argentina to a FIFA World Cup victory in 1986 — has been the manager of United Arab Emirates club Al-Fujairah since May 2017. He was giving an interview on Venezuelan television network TeleSur recently and was asked what he thought of President Trump.

“Donald Trump is a chirolita,” Maradona said, using an Argentine slang term that roughly translates to ‘puppet’ or ‘dummy.’ At the time of this interview, Maradona was in the process of applying for a visa to the States to travel to Miami. He wished to go to Florida for a court case involving his ex-wife Claudia Villafane. He has now been denied entry.

Villafane allegedly purchased property in Miami and Maradona claims she used money she stole from him.

This is not the first time Maradona has been banned from the US. During the 1994 World Cup in USA, the player was sent home after testing positive for drug use. Argentina was subsequently eliminated in the first knockout round.

Maradona previously mocked Trump last summer. In July 2017, he told Russian TV network RT: “For me, he’s more of a comic. He’s like a cartoon to me, if we talk about politics. … Every time I see him on TV, I switch the channel.”

Maradona — who played for Italy’s Napoli club as well as Barcelona and Argentina’s Boca Juniors among other clubs — is widely considered one of the greatest soccer players of his generation.

He went to Russia in December to assist with the World Cup final draw at the Kremlin in Moscow.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – JANUARY 09: Diego Maradona reacts during a FIFA Team Friendly Football Match at the FIFA headquarters prior to The Best FIFA Football Awards 2016 on January 9, 2017 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Philipp Schmidli/Getty Images)