Donald Trump says he won't be attending this year's Super Bowl and made it clear Bad Bunny's halftime performance won't win him over either.
In an exclusive interview with The New York Post from the Oval Office, Trump revealed he plans to skip the NFL championship game on February 8 in San Francisco and criticized the selection of Bad Bunny and, now, Green Day, as musical acts for the highly anticipated halftime show.
"I'm anti-them. I think it's a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible," said Trump.
Both artists have publicly spoken out against Trump in the past, something the president appeared to reference while sharing his disapproval. Despite the strong words, Trump insisted the performers themselves aren't the main reason he's sitting this one out.
"It's just too far away. I would. I've [gotten] great hands [at] the Super Bowl. They like me," he explained. "I would go if, you know, it was a little bit shorter."
Bad Bunny has been openly critical of Trump over the years. In his song "Nuevayol" off his latest studio album Debí Tirar Más Fotos, Benito featured a voice mimicking Trump delivering an apology to immigrants.
Green Day, a notoriously political band. has also taken public stances that clash with Trump's views. Just last week, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong voiced support for anti-deportation protests in Minnesota.
"I'm not a part of a redneck agenda. I'm not a part of the MAGA agenda," he said to replace the lyrics in “American Idiot.”
Trump's comments come as the upcoming Super Bowl has already become entangled in political controversy beyond the halftime show.
Following the announcement that Bad Bunny would headline, Trump's administration issued warnings that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents would be present at Super Bowl LX. Corey Lewandowski, an adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, said on The Benny Show podcast that there would be no exceptions for undocumented immigrants attending the event.
"There is nowhere you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else," Lewandowski said.
He went on to say federal authorities would "find" and "apprehend" undocumented individuals and place them into detention facilities, describing the approach as a sharp shift from previous administrations.
Bad Bunny has previously expressed concern about immigration enforcement in the U.S., even stating at one point that he didn't plan to tour stateside to promote his album Debí Tirar Más Fotos because it felt "unnecessary." He later clarified that his team was worried about possible immigration raids targeting fans at his shows.