Salma Hayek says she despises Donald Trump and his comments about immigrants so much that she won’t even “say his name” in public in case it gives him the oxygen of “extra publicity”. The Mexican-born actress and naturalised US citizen gave her thoughts on Trump’s latest controversy in an interview with E! on Wednesday (July 29th).

“I'm aware that he would say anything to attract attention and create the publicity around him,” the 48 year old actress, who stars in the upcoming film Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet. “If something generates publicity, I would never be surprised about anything he does.”

“I'd be surprised if he did something courageous and meaningful that nobody found out about,” she continued. “This was not courageous and meaningful.”

Salma HayekSalma Hayek is unimpressed with Donald Trump's comments on immigration

Trump has been roundly criticised for his comments on immigrants coming from the Mexican border in the last month since he launched his presidential nomination bid. “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people,” he said in a conference from his Trump Tower in Manhattan.

Hayek admitted that there was a silver lining to Trump’s comments. “I think it's beginning to show that discrimination and racism in this country is a bigger problem than we accept it is,” she said. “At least he brought a light into a real problem.”

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Trump, the clear frontrunner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, has been unrepentant about his remarks, claiming that his refusal to back down in the face of pressure from the liberal media has won him the respect of conservatives, and even Hispanic communities across America.

“I know you're surprised to hear that, but I'm number one with the Hispanics,” Trump told reporters on Thursday during a break in Scotland. “I said that if I get the nomination I will win with the Hispanics. I'm number one in Nevada, I'm number one in North Carolina, and number one nationally. But very importantly, I'm number one with the Hispanics, it just came out yesterday.”

“The illegal immigration in the United States is a huge subject and I brought it to the fore and everybody is thanking me for it, that's one of the reasons why I became number one in the polls.”

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