Donald Trump named Meryl Streep among his favourite actresses in 2015

Donald Trump may now regard Meryl Streep as “overrated” but just over a year ago the President-elect had named her among his favourite actresses and had hailed her as “excellent”.

Ms. Streep, an ardent supporter of Mr. Trump’s rival Hillary Clinton, slammed the next US President in her scathing speech while accepting the Cecil B DeMille Award at the Golden Globes yesterday.

The three-time Oscar winner took swipes at Mr. Trump’s divisive rhetoric without naming him as she cautioned against powerful people using their position to “bully others.”

Responding to Ms. Streep’s comments, Mr. Trump tweeted, “Meryl Streep, one of the most overrated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a Hillary flunky who lost big.”

Mr. Trump’s critical remarks were in sharp contrast to the comments he made in 2015.

Asked during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter if there were any actresses in particular he loved, Mr. Trump answered, “Julia Roberts is terrific, and many others. Meryl Streep is excellent; she’s a fine person, too.”

“The problem is I’ll name three or four or five and then the hundred that I know will be insulted, and I don’t mean to insult them,” he had said.

During Ms. Streep’s speech on Monday, the actress called out Mr. Trump’s recent “performance,” referring to the moment when the President-elect mocked The New York Times’ Serge Kovaleski, a disabled reporter.

“There was nothing good about it, but it did its job. I still can’t get it out my head because it wasn’t in a movie; it was in real life. That instinct to humiliate when it’s modelled by someone in a public platform, it filters down into everyone’s life because it gives permission for others to do the same,” she had said.

Mr. Trump had fired back, calling her a “Hillary lover”.