On Saturday, President Donald Trump announced he will not attend next month’s Super Bowl, criticizing the halftime performers and expressing concern about the event’s location in California.
Trump, who was present at last year’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs in New Orleans, told the New York Post: “It’s just too far away. I would, I’ve [gotten] great hands [at] the Super Bowl. They like me.”
This year’s Super Bowl is set to take place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, near San Jose.
He remarked, “I would go if, you know, it was a little bit shorter.”
Additionally, Trump has been critical of headliner Bad Bunny since the performer was announced for the Halftime Show last fall. “I don’t know who he is,” Trump told Newsmax. “I don’t know why they’re doing it. It’s crazy. And then they blame it on some promoter they hired to pick up entertainment. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Rock band Green Day was also recently confirmed to perform before the game’s kickoff.
Both Bad Bunny and Green Day’s frontman Billie Joe Armstrong have previously expressed their discontent with Trump. Bad Bunny indicated that he chose to perform in Puerto Rico rather than in the U.S. due to concerns that fans could face ICE detention at his concerts. “But there was the issue of, like, f—ing ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about,” he explained.
In his song “Nuevayol,” Bad Bunny included a Trump impersonator, stating, “I want to apologize to the immigrants in America. . . . This country is nothing without the immigrants. This country is nothing without Mexicans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, Venezuelans, Cubans.”
Armstrong has previously compared Trump to Hitler and has modified the lyrics of their song “American Idiot” during live performances to criticize Trump’s agenda.
Trump responded to the performers, saying, “I’m anti-them. I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible.”
Last year, Kendrick Lamar headlined the Halftime Show, with performances by SZA, Jon Batiste, Lauren Daigle, Trombone Shorty, and Ledisi.
The Super Bowl is scheduled for Sunday, February 8, with the championship games on the same day determining the teams that will compete.
