What to Know
When asked about attending the Super Bowl this year, President Donald Trump gave a relatively simple excuse: it’s “just too far away.” People don’t exactly believe that though. During the same interview, which was with the New York Post, Trump also vented about this year’s musical guests. Bad Bunny is headlining the halftime show, and Green Day is performing during the opening ceremony. Trump’s not a fan of either of them. He explicitly said he’s “anti-them” and thinks they’re “terrible” choices. But insiders recently revealed that Trump’s actual reason for skipping the Super Bowl has nothing to do with music or distance. Instead, it seems to have everything to do with his ego.
He would most likely get booed there, and officials allegedly don’t want to deal with that.
According to a report from Zeteo, sources familiar with the situation say that officials were worried that he’d get booed. In other words, the Super Bowl could be a very obvious display of how unpopular the president is right now. Apparently, officials were thinking ahead to the content that could go viral on social media if Trump were to get booed, and they thought it would be best to avoid the risk altogether.
After all, Zeteo reported that officials allegedly “quietly determined that the chances were rather high.”
And can you imagine Trump taking that well?
Trump attended the Super Bowl last year, and we all saw how he reacted to Taylor Swift getting booed. Although there are arguably other things to worry about, he honed in on this detail and mocked Swift on social media. On Truth Social, he wrote, “The only one that had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift. She got BOOED out of the Stadium. MAGA is very unforgiving!”
During his interview with the New York Post, Trump seemed confident that he would still receive a warm welcome if he were to attend this year. So, it’s possible that he’s not aware of this alleged plan to avoid any viral booing content. “I would [go],” he said. “I’ve [gotten] great hands [at] the Super Bowl. They like me.” Of course, it’s easy to say this when you’re not actually going.
Maybe Trump himself is scared of how people would react to him being there, but obviously doesn’t want to admit that. Or maybe those working for him are trying to protect him from getting booed, and he’s not really in on it.
Seth Meyers also believes this is why Trump is skipping the Super Bowl.
The late-night host is among those who don’t believe Trump’s excuse about California being too far away. On the February 4 episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers, Meyers said, “It’s too far away? You know you have your own plane, right? Like, we weren’t expecting you to pile into a station wagon with Eric, Don Jr. and Melania.” He went on to say that “Trump’s excuse doesn’t track.” He also mentioned the fact that Trump has traveled much farther before.
“This is the same guy who has done multiple trips to the Middle East and Asia, but San Francisco is too far away?” he continued. “Or is it because they won’t give you a dumb gift for making the trip? Because we know you love a dumb gift.”
Or, you know, it could be because of the booing. “I wonder if it’s because there’s another reason he might not want to attend a football game in the current political climate,” Meyers joked. “Of course Trump is worried about getting booed.”
