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Twitter users mistake LeVar Burton for LaVar Ball in attacks

This combination photo shows LaVar Ball, father of UCLA basketball player LiAngelo Ball, left, one of three student players recently arrested in China for shoplifting, and actor LeVar Burton, who is being mistaken for Ball by some supporters of President Donald Trump. (AP/File)
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The Associated Press
November 24, 2017 - 11:53 am
 
Updated November 24, 2017 - 8:58 pm

LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump is feuding with LaVar Ball and LeVar Burton is taking the hit on Twitter.

Burton is an actor best known for playing Lt. La Forge in “Star Trek” on TV and film and for championing kids’ education through the “Reading Rainbow” series. Ball is the father of Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball and UCLA basketball player LiAngelo Ball, one of three student players recently arrested in China for shoplifting.

Trump tweeted that Ball was an “ungrateful fool” for not being more appreciative of presidential intervention in LiAngelo Ball’s case. Some of the president’s followers in turn attacked Burton on Twitter, with one calling him a “has been actor with a thief for a son.”

Burton and Ball haven’t let the controversy interrupt their holiday plans — both tweeted Thanksgiving wishes to their followers Thursday.

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