WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump made history last year by being the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl.
This year, he’s skipping the big game, which is set for Feb. 8 in California.
He told the New York Post in a Jan. 23 interview that the blockbuster event is “just too far away.”
But he’s also unhappy about the musical performers, which include noted Trump critics Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny and the rock band Green Day.
“I’m anti-them,” said the president, though he stressed that’s not his reason for avoiding the game. “I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible.”
Explained: Trump vs. Bad Bunny, Green Day
The performing artists for Super Bowl LX have separately expressed public criticism of the president.
Trump has clashed in particular with upcoming halftime performer Bad Bunny, one of the most popular musicians in the world who supported former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. Dubbed the “King of Latin Trap,” he was Spotify’s most listened-to artist globally last year for the fourth time. (Statistics shared exclusively with USA TODAY showed he was streamed more than 60 million times daily on the app.)
The reggaeton didn’t schedule any stops in the United States for his latest world tour, in part due to concerns about the Trump administration’s widely aggressive immigration enforcement policies.
“There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the U.S., and none of them were out of hate,” the rapper told I-D magazine. “But there was the issue of—like, (expletive) ICE could be outside (my concert). And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
The rock band Green Day, which will kick off the Super Bowl at the opening ceremony, has slammed Trump many times over the years. During a New Year’s Eve performance two years ago, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong altered the lyrics of the group’s hit song “American Idiot” from “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” to “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda.”
The artists have taken more recent digs at Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s chief West Wing advisers, and the president’s immigration enforcement agenda more broadly.
When is the 2026 Super Bowl? Who’s playing?
The title game will take place on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
The playing teams will be determined by the outcomes of this weekend’s conference championships. The New England Patriots will play against the Denver Broncos for the AFC’s spot, while the Los Angeles Rams are vying against the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC.
