WASHINGTON — The White House press team called actor Mark Hamill "one sick individual" on X after he posted an AI-generated image of U.S. President Donald Trump lying in a shallow grave on his Bluesky account. Hamill subsequently deleted the post and apologized.

The image showed Trump lying with his eyes shut next to a headstone inscribed "Donald J. Trump 1946-2024" and included the caption "if only."

In a follow-up post, Hamill said: "Actually, I was wishing him the opposite of dead, but apologize if you found the image inappropriate." In a separate post, Hamill wrote: "Should live long enough to witness his inevitable devastating loss in the midterms, be held accountable for his unprecedented corruption, impeached, convicted & humiliated for his countless crimes. Long enough to realize he'll be disgraced in the history books, forevermore."

The White House press team's statement on X said, "These Radical Left lunatics just can't help themselves," and called Hamill "one sick individual." The statement also said, "This kind of rhetoric is exactly what has inspired three assassination attempts in two years against our President."

Last month, a man fired a shotgun outside the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, in what authorities said was an attempt to assassinate Trump. The incident was among three events the White House press team referenced in its statement.

At a rally in Pennsylvania in 2024, Trump was shot in the ear, and the gunman was killed by the Secret Service. Later in 2024, a man was found hiding in bushes with weapons near where Trump was playing golf. In February 2024, that man was convicted of attempted assassination of the president.