Every January, the United States of America celebrates "Martin Luther King Day" in honor of the civil rights leader. After Donald Trump sent out a message on Twitter about King, a flood of backlash followed on social media.

Trump on MLK

Ever since Donald Trump first announced his campaign for president, he's been hit with allegations of racism, and other forms of prejudice. While the billionaire real estate mogul vowed to be "great" for the African-American community, he was only able to receive around eight percent of the vote total in his win against Hillary Clinton.

However, the amount of African-American support for Trump was higher than in previous years for Republican presidential candidates. In the days leading up to Martin Luther King Day, Trump lashed out at civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, who announced that he would refuse to attend the inauguration ceremony. After Trump went on multiple Twitter rants against the congressman, the president-elect also sent out a message in honor of King. As seen on Twitter on January 16, many social media users were not pleased.

"Celebrate Martin Luther King Day and all of the many wonderful things that he stood for," Donald Trump wrote on Twitter early Monday morning, before adding, "Honor him for being the great man that he was!" In response, an onslaught of criticism followed, as Trump was quickly accused of hypocrisy.

"Honor him by respecting John Lewis's 50 year record fight for human rights," Twitter user Tony Posnanski wrote.

"I love this message, @realDonaldTrump, seriously.

But what do you think MLK would say about your other tweets?" author David G. McAfee wondered. "As you wish... we stand against the tyranny, injustice, and racism you represent, and which MLK worked his life to rid," another message read. "Will I be seeing you at the Museum of African American History today? Oh...no, cause you canceled that.

Right," an additional comment noted.

Comedy Central writer Tim Duffy also chimed in, citing an article from The Huffington Post that showed Martin Luther King Jr's wife writing a letter of opposition to Jeff Sessions back in 1986, who was recently nominated by Donald Trump for Attorney General. Another Twitter user decided to reference a point in history, in a sharp attack on the former host of "The Apprentice." "When you were being sued for housing discrimination, @repjohnlewis was fighting for fair housing," Twitter user @KentuckyBlacc wrote.

Next up

Despite the backlash, Donald Trump is now just four days away from heading to Washington, D.C. to be sworn in as the next President of the United States. While Trump's tweets remain controversial, the president-elect announced he would not abandon his personal Twitter account, and will leave the POTUS social media page dormant.