A Dubai real estate firm building a $6 billion (€5.5 billion) golf complex with Donald Trump on Thursday stripped the property of his name and image amid a backlash over the US presidential candidate's proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States.
Trump triggered an international uproar when he made his comments in response to last week’s deadly shootings in California by two Muslims who authorities said were radicalised.
Damac Properties had initially said it would stand by Trump, even as another of the billionaire’s Middle East partners, the Dubai-based Lifestyle chain of department stores, halted sales of his “Trump Home” line on Wednesday in protest at his comments.
A spokesman for Damac Properties, Niall McLoughlin, declined to comment on why Trump's image had been removed from a billboard outside the project construction site, along with that of his daughter, Ivanka Trump.
The Akoya by Damac project will include a Trump-branded golf course, gated island community and spa. Trump is also building a second golf course, the Tiger Woods-designed Trump World Golf Club, at another Damac property in Dubai, Akoya Oxygen.
An advertising billboard outside the Akoya by Damac development had shown Trump in a red hat swinging a golf club against a backdrop of a lush green golf course.
By Thursday, the image had gone, a Reuters photographer said.
An adjacent photo of Trump’s daughter Ivanka, an executive vice president for his Trump Organization firm, was also removed from the billboard.
Gold letters spelling out “Trump International Gold Club” affixed to a landscaped stone wall at the entrance to the project site, were also removed later in the day, according to the Reuters photographer.
Trump on Thursday postponed a planned trip to Israel amid the global backlash over his proposal.
A petition calling for Trump to be barred from entering the UK has become the most popular ever campaign on the government’s website, heading towards half a million signatures. Israeli politicians also called on their government to bar Trump.
Trump bought the Doonbeg golf resort in Co Clare last year for €15 million.
