Angry Fans Confuse 'Star Trek' Star LeVar Burton for LaVar Ball

By now, you may have heard about LaVarr Ball's feud with President Trump. Ball, whose son Lonzo [...]

By now, you may have heard about LaVarr Ball's feud with President Trump. Ball, whose son Lonzo plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, spent a good chunk of his interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo disputing the idea that Trump was the one responsible for his other son, LiAngelo's safe return to the U.S. after he was caught shoplifting in China.

In the interview, Ball explains, "I don't have to go around saying 'thank you' to everybody. He didn't call me. I didn't shake his hand. He didn't have to say nothing, but I'm just saying. I have to know what somebody is doing before I say 'thank you.' I'm not just going to go around saying thank you."

Ball and Cuomo argued back and forth for about 20 minutes over the role Trump played in freeing LiAngelo and two of his fellow UCLA basketball players, but Ball was insistent that the president's intervention had little to do with his son's freedom, saying, "I don't have — no doubts about what he did. I got doubts about what he didn't do."

At that point, Trump supporters became angry with Ball and took to Twitter to heckle him online. The issue there, however, is that instead of trolling LaVar Ball, they targeted Star Trek actor and Reading Rainbow bibliophile LeVar Burton.

The irony of the situation was not lost on many, who noted that Burton's famed literacy show could come in handy for those who confused the men with the same (differently spelled) first name.

Burton himself even responded to a piece of his undeserved hate mail, taking the confusion in stride.

But you don't have to take his word for it — his Star Trek castmate, Brent Spiner also weighed in with some good (sarcastic) advice:

Not one to ever sit on the sidelines during a good Twitter war, Trump shared his thoughts on his role in LiAngelo's return from Chinese authorities, calling LaVar "a poor man's version of Don King" and an "ungrateful fool." Unlike his supporters, Trump threw his shade at the right LaVar.

In the meantime, we expect Burton will probably continue to ward off his undeserved criticism, while vowing to never give up on championing literacy.

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