Trump made history last year as the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl when he showed up at the game in New Orleans, but on Saturday, he announced he won’t be attending this year. 

Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump blasted the NFL for choosing Bad Bunny and Green Day as halftime performers. Trump told the New York Post that the halftime act represents "a terrible choice" that only serves to "sow hatred." He confirmed his absence from the game at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, though he insisted the artists are not the reason. "It's just too far away," Trump said, adding that he would attend "if it was a little bit shorter." 

The president made his feelings about the performers clear. “I’m anti-them. I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible,” Trump declared. 

Trump blasted the NFL back in October when Bad Bunny was selected to headline the halftime show.

"The NFL just chose the Bad Bunny rabbit or whatever his name is," Greg Kelly of NewsmaxTV told him. "This guy, who hates ICE, he doesn’t like you, he accuses everything he doesn’t like of racism."

Kelly added, "This guy does not seem like a unifying entertainer, and a lot of folks don’t even know who he is."

"I've never heard of him," Trump said. "I don't know who he is."

He nevertheless criticized the selection. "I don't know why they're doing it. It's crazy. And then they blame it on some promoter they hired to pick up entertainment— I think it's absolutely ridiculous.”

According to Entertainment Weekly, Bad Bunny was “the most streamed artist on Spotify in 2025, but he said he avoided bringing his Debi Tirar Mas Fotos World Tour to the continental United States due to concerns that ICE would target his concerts.”

"There were many reasons why I didn't show up in the U.S., and none of them were out of hate — I've performed there many times," the musician said last year "All of [the shows] have been successful. All of them have been magnificent. I've enjoyed connecting with Latinos who have been living in the U.S. But there was the issue of, like, f---ing ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it's something that we were talking about and very concerned about."

Last year, a Cygnal poll showed support for Trump’s deportation of illegal immigrants surged with Hispanic voters.

“Among Hispanic voters, 50 percent supported deportations and 48 percent opposed,” Newsweek reported in July. “There was a seven percent increase in overall support since May among this demographic, with an 11 percent rise among those who said they ‘strongly support’ the policy.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced last year that ICE would blanket the Super Bowl. "We're going to be all over that place," Noem told Benny Johnson in October, declaring that only "law-abiding Americans who cherish this country" should attend. She added that agents would "enforce the law.” 

Green Day has made attacking Donald Trump a recurring feature of its performances for nearly a decade. Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has altered lyrics in “American Idiot” to target “MAGA,” displayed a Trump mask labeled “IDIOT” at a 2024 Washington, D.C., concert, and led anti-Trump chants during televised award shows. Armstrong has also compared Trump to Adolf Hitler in interviews. 

Turning Point USA, the conservative group founded by Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed in September 2025 during an event at Utah Valley University in September, announced it would stage an alternative "All-American Halftime Show" to counter Bad Bunny's performance. Spokesperson Andrew Kolvet said in October that the counter-show would be "a real production" held in an arena.

The organization has not revealed any performers or details about its halftime show, despite the game taking place in less than three weeks. Public relations manager Aubrey Laitsch told TMZ in January that the show is confirmed, but fans must tune in during the Super Bowl to learn the lineup.