Rod Stewart has slammed "draft dodger" Donald Trump following the US president's remarks about NATO troops and their role in Afghanistan.
In a Fox News interview earlier this week, Trump criticised America's NATO allies, downplaying their contribution to the war on terror.
"We've never needed them. We have never really asked anything of them," Trump said of NATO. "You know, they'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, or this or that. And they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines."
Trump's comments drew the anger of European politicians, as well as his former friend and neighbour, Sir Rod Stewart.
"I may just be a humble rock star, I'm also a knight of the realm, and I have my opinions," Stewart said in response to Trump's comments in a video statement posted on social media.
Stewart, who was born just after World War II, opined that "I'd like respect for our armed forces who fought and gave us our freedom, so it hurts me badly, deeply, that I read the draft dodger Trump is criticising our troops in Afghanistan for not being on the front line.
"We lost over 400 of our guys. Think of their parents, think about it, when Trump calls them almost like cowards. It's unbearable."
Stewart added, "I'm calling on you, Prime Minister Starmer, please make the draft dodger Trump apologise. Please!"
During the decades-long war on terror, 457 British troops were killed in Afghanistan.
Starmer said of Trump's remarks, "I will never forget their courage, their bravery and the sacrifice they made for their country. I consider President Trump's remarks to be insulting and frankly appalling."
In 1972, when called to serve in the Vietnam War, Trump received a diagnosis of bone spurs in his heels, excusing him from military service.
