The White House has called Star Wars actor Mark Hamill "one sick individual" after he posted an AI-generated image of US President Donald Trump in a shallow grave, alongside the caption "if only".
The image, posted on Hamill's Bluesky account, showed Trump lying with his eyes shut, next to a headstone with the inscription "Donald J. Trump 1946-2024".
Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars films from 1977 onwards, later deleted the post and apologised. "Actually, I was wishing him the opposite of dead, but apologize if you found the image inappropriate," he wrote.
BBC News has asked the actor's representatives for a comment on the White House remarks about him.
In the now-deleted X post, Hamill - who has also voiced the Joker character in various DC Comics projects - wrote that Trump "should live long enough to witness his inevitable devastating loss in the midterms, be held accountable for his unprecedented corruption, impeached, convicted & humiliated for his countless crimes. Long enough to realize he'll be disgraced in the history books, forevermore."
The White House press team responded on the same platform, calling Hamill "one sick individual".
"These Radical Left lunatics just can't help themselves," they replied.
"This kind of rhetoric is exactly what has inspired three assassination attempts in two years against our President."
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Last month, a man fired a shotgun outside the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, in what the authorities have said wasan attempt to assassinate Trump.
Following the shooting, Melania Trump and other US officials demanded that comedian and TV chat show host Jimmy Kimmel be sacked by ABC after he joked on-air, in a parody sketch days before the shooting, that the first lady had a "glow like an expectant widow".
Mrs Trump said Kimmel's "hateful and violent rhetoric" was intended to divide the US, adding: "It is time for ABC to take a stand.
"How many times will ABC's leadership enable Kimmel's atrocious behaviour at the expense of our community?"
Kimmel rejected the criticism, saying his joke had been a reference to the couple's 24-year age difference.
"I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject," he later said on-air.
"I do, and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it."
The president wasshot in the ear at a rally in Pennsylvaniain 2024, where the gunman was killed by the Secret Service.
The same year, a man was found hiding in bushes with weapons close to where Trump was playing golf. In February, he wasconvicted of an attempted assassination.
