In February 2025, nearly three weeks after his second inauguration, President Donald Trump traveled to New Orleans to watch the Super Bowl—making him the first ever sitting president to attend the big game. But when Super Bowl LX gets underway at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Sunday, the president won’t be in the audience. Trump told the New York Post that the night’s entertainment—recent Grammy winner Bad Bunny and vocal Trump opponents Green Day—helped sway his decision.
“I’m anti-them. I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible,” Trump said. But ultimately, he credited distance as the real reason he chose not to attend: “I would go if, you know, it [the trip] was a little bit shorter.” (Don’t worry: Trump thinks he would have gotten “great” handshakes if he did go to the Super Bowl again.)
On Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Levitt doubled down on the White House’s anti–Bad Bunny stance in response to a question about the artist saying “ICE out” onstage at the Grammys on Sunday. She said it was “ironic and frankly sad” that “celebrities who live in gated communities with private security” would choose to “demonize law enforcement public servants, who work for the United States government to enforce our nation’s laws.” adding, “You didn’t see this same type of uproar from celebrities in Hollywood when the previous administration allowed an invasion of our nation’s borders.”
Ever since the Puerto Rican musician was announced as the Halftime Show headliner back in October, his selection has been a topic of frustration on the right. On Monday, Turning Point USA announced that its plans to host a competing “All-American” halftime show had come to fruition: the lineup includes Trump friend and occasional White House guest Kid Rock.
More members of Trump’s administration have spoken out against the halftime entertainer as well. Corey Lewandowski, an adviser to the Department of Homeland Security, initially claimed that the administration would ask ICE to increase its presence at the Super Bowl: “There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people who are in the country illegally, not the Super Bowl, not anywhere else,” Lewandowski said on a podcast hosted by right-wing YouTuber Benny Johnson. “It will be everywhere.”
On Tuesday, however, the NFL’s head of security announced that immigration officials would not have a presence around the stadium. “There are no planned ICE or immigration enforcement operations that are scheduled around the Super Bowl or any of the Super Bowl–related events,” Cathy Lanier said in a press conference, per Reuters.
In November, Trump became the first sitting president in 50 years to attend a regular-season football game. When he arrived at the Washington Commanders’ Northwest Stadium in Landover, MD, The Guardian reports that he drew both boos and cheers.
