US: Legendary musician Carlos Santana calls Donald Trump "an angry ape"

Apparently rocker Carlos Santana will not be voting for Donald Trump. He used his Facebook page to post an open letter praising President Obama and referring to the Republican candidate for president as an angry ape who has "no consciousness or integrity."

"Regarding Mr. Trump .... I remember when I was a child living in Tijuana. I often crossed the border to visit the San Diego Zoo," Santana writes. "I would hear loud screams and commotion in the distance. As I came closer to the sound, I noticed everyone was staring at an ape in a glass cage. The ape was staring back at the crowd that gathered. With an angry look of disgust, the ape defecated in his hand and threw it at the crowd. This is what I hear when Mr. Trump speaks.

"The Republicans and Mr Trump are selling hate and fear. That is the opposite of what our Country stands for. Let's go forward with light and love into the future. Pull humanity up, take the high road and look at the aerial view. Peace on Earth now, not later."

The legendary guitarist, who removed his harsh message a few days after posting it, is one of a group of Latino and other celebrities, from Gloria Estefan to Whoopi Goldberg, who participated in the music video "We're all Mexican," produced by Emelio Estefan after Trump called Mexican immigrants "rapists." The video came out in time for Hispanic Heritage Month.

"There's a message being sent out to the world where people are giving opinions that are plain wrong," the Cuban-American Estefan, who has won 19 Grammy awards, told Billboard earlier this month. "We need to lift up our pride and show the world what we're doing."

When Trump declared his candidacy last summer, he said: "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists."

Trump has also called for all Muslim immigrants to be banned from the US, and in early January a Muslim woman was ejected from a Trump campaign speech as she stood silently to protest his position on immigrants.

The British Parliament on Monday (18 January) is debating a proposal on whether or not to bar Trump from the UK because of his stance on Muslim immigration.