Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons has urged his “old friend” Donald Trump to “stop the bullshit”.

The Def Jam co-founder has written an open letter to the Republican presidential candidate criticising his inflammatory comments about Muslims and reminding Trump of their visit to the Islamic Cultural Center of New York “not too long ago”, saying: “You walked into that house of worship and you felt all the love vibrating in that mosque.”

Simmons thanked the billionaire frontrunner for being “an amazing friend” over 30 years, “coming to my shows, flying me on your planes” before launching into his “tough criticism”, saying he “cannot disagree” with comparisons between Trump and Hitler.

“You are a generous, kind man who has built a career on negotiating deals where everybody wins. Now, you seem like a one-man wrecking ball willing to destroy our nation’s foundation of freedom.”

He adds: “Stop the bullshit. Stop fueling fires of hate. Don’t feed into the rhetoric created by small-minded people. You’re smarter and certainly more loving than you let on.”

Earlier this week Trump called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States while we figure out what the hell is going on.”

Read the full letter on Global Grind.