President Donald Trump confirmed this week that he will not attend the Super Bowl this year, citing both the choice of performers and the game’s location as deciding factors.
In an Oval Office interview with The New York Post, Trump said he was unhappy with the NFL’s decision to feature Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny as the halftime headliner and to include Green Day in the opening ceremony. Both performers have publicly criticized Trump and opposed his administration’s policies.
“I’m anti-them. I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible,” Trump said.
The president also noted that the Super Bowl is being played in California this year, which he described as an additional deterrent.
“It’s just too far away. I would. I’ve [gotten] great hands [at] the Super Bowl. They like me,” Trump told the New York Post. “I would go if, you know, it was a little bit shorter.”
Trump made history last year as the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl while in office. He watched the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 40–22 in New Orleans.
The president has previously criticized the NFL’s decision to select Bad Bunny—whose real name is Benito Ocasio—for Super Bowl LX, calling it “absolutely ridiculous.”
During an October phone interview on Newsmax, host Greg Kelly questioned Trump about the performer’s appeal and political activism. Kelly described Bad Bunny as “not a unifying entertainer” and noted that many Americans are unfamiliar with him, asking whether fans should consider “entertaining blowing off the NFL.”
“I never heard of him. I don’t know who he is, I don’t know why they’re doing it, it’s crazy,” Trump said. “And then they blame it on some promoter that they hired to pick up entertainment. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Bad Bunny has previously said he refused to perform in the United States because of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents enforcing federal immigration laws. In an Instagram video, Ocasio referred to ICE officers using profane language, calling them “motherf*ers” and “sons of b**es.”
