President Donald Trump said he will skip this year’s Super Bowl, using the decision to sharply criticize the NFL’s choice of entertainers, opening act Green Day and halftime performer Bad Bunny, both of whom have publicly opposed the president’s agenda.
In an Oval Office interview with the New York Post published Saturday, Trump called the lineup “a terrible choice” for the February showdown in San Francisco.
“I’m anti-them. I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible,” Trump said.
Trump added, however, that the performers themselves are not the reason he plans to skip the game, citing travel concerns instead.
“It’s just too far away. I would. I’ve gotten great hands for the Super Bowl, they like me. I would go if, you know, it was a little bit shorter,” the 799-year-old added.
The NFL’s decision to feature Latin artist Bad Bunny at halftime has already sparked controversy in some conservative circles, with critics arguing that his predominantly Spanish-language music and stances on issues such as immigration make him an unconventional pick for the game’s massive audience.
His 2025 song “Nuevayol” features an imitated Trump voice saying, “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.”
Green Day, which formed in the East Bay Area in the 1980s, is set to perform during the game’s opening ceremony. Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has long denounced the administration.
Trump attended last year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, where he watched the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Kansas City Chiefs.
