Stephen King didn't mince his words as he launched a scathing attack on Donald Trump following the President's controversial free speech remarks, which also drew fierce criticism on CNN.

During an appearance at the Oval Office last week, the President addressed what he described as hostile media coverage, declaring, "I'm a very strong person for free speech. But 97, 94, 95, 96% of the people are against me in the sense of the newscasts are against me.

"The stories are- they said 97% bad. So, they gave me 97, they'll take a great story, and they'll make it bad. See, I think that's really illegal, personally."

He went on to assert there is "no longer free speech," before adding, "That's no longer anything. That's just cheating."

King has lambasted Trump's remarks, having recently sparked controversy with his comments on Charlie Kirk's death, reports The Mirror US.

Taking to X, King hit back, "Mr. Trump himself has repeatedly made clear in recent days that he has a different goal. For him, it's not about hate speech, but about speech that he hates - namely, speech that is critical of him and his administration."

In a follow-up post, the novelist shared a fresh moniker for Trump as he wrote, "That quote is from what Trumpty-Dumpty likes to call "the failing New York Times. "" His observations received backing from supporters.

"Hate speech" has always been an excuse for trying to punish speech that those in power don't like," one person shared. Another suspected the President was promoting a false narrative and wrote, "If that were true, he would censor 80% of the media. "

A third fan added, "100% accurate.The whole #MAGAcult has sacrificed any "freedom" they supposedly believed in, just to get on their knees and worship Trump."

King's remarks came as CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins also slammed Trump's free speech comments. She said, "Tonight, President Trump says overly negative coverage of him is illegal, as he is ousting a prosecutor that he picked who declined to indict one of his political opponents without enough evidence."

Collins continued, "President Trump is no longer just suggesting that some TV networks should have their licenses revoked. He now seems to be clearly saying that he - the coverage that he deems to be too negative is illegal."

"Like freedom of the speech, freedom of press is legally protected by the First Amendment. That includes positive and negative coverage. It's not based on percentages either. "

"The President, though, seems emboldened today, by ABC's decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel's show off the air, after the network was facing intense pressure from the President's FCC chair.".