When Bad Bunny and Green Day were announced as Super Bowl LX performers, many assumed the Big Game was poised to become a political football in the culture wars.
After all, Bad Bunny just declared “ICE Out” at the Grammy Awards last weekend. Green Day front-man Billie Joe Armstrong—a prominent critic of U.S. President Donald Trump—urged ICE agents to quit their “shitty ass jobs” during a pregame event.
But the competing shows between the NFL’s Bad Bunny/Green Day and Turning Point USA’s Kid Rock almost entirely avoided mentioning the Trump administration, with Bad Bunny’s political statements focusing more on the history of Puerto Rico and the Americas.
Here’s the surprise, writes FOS senior writer Michael McCarthy: There have been far more controversial statements coming across the ocean in Italy during the Winter Olympics.
With the Minnesota shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents fresh in their minds, several Team USA athletes have made provocative comments about representing a country led by Trump.
“I think it brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now, I think. It’s a little hard,” said U.S. Olympic skier Hunter Hess. “There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren’t.”
It doesn’t take much to provoke Trump. Hess’s comments drew a strong reaction from the president, who ripped the skier on his Truth Social site Sunday.
“U.S. Olympic Skier, Hunter Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn’t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics,” declared Trump. “If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it. Very hard to root for someone like this. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump lashed out only a few days after the sight of U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance waving small American flags generated a “smattering of jeers and boos” at the opening ceremony in Milan. (NBC Sports denied reports it edited out the booing from U.S. coverage.)
The Olympics have long been a more natural place for sports and politics to collide, and this year, the Games—not the Super Bowl—has become the political football.
Story in bio.
When Bad Bunny and Green Day were announced as Super Bowl LX performers, many assumed the Big Game was poised to become a political football in the culture wars.
After all, Bad Bunny just declared “ICE Out” at the Grammy Awards last weekend. Green Day front-man Billie Joe Armstrong—a prominent critic of U.S. President Donald Trump—urged ICE agents to quit their “shitty ass jobs” during a pregame event.
But the competing shows between the NFL’s Bad Bunny/Green Day and Turning Point USA’s Kid Rock almost entirely avoided mentioning the Trump administration, with Bad Bunny’s political statements focusing more on the history of Puerto Rico and the Americas.
Here’s the surprise, writes FOS senior writer Michael McCarthy: There have been far more controversial statements coming across the ocean in Italy during the Winter Olympics.
With the Minnesota shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents fresh in their minds, several Team USA athletes have made provocative comments about representing a country led by Trump.
“I think it brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now, I think. It’s a little hard,” said U.S. Olympic skier Hunter Hess. “There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren’t.”
It doesn’t take much to provoke Trump. Hess’s comments drew a strong reaction from the president, who ripped the skier on his Truth Social site Sunday.
“U.S. Olympic Skier, Hunter Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn’t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics,” declared Trump. “If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it. Very hard to root for someone like this. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump lashed out only a few days after the sight of U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance waving small American flags generated a “smattering of jeers and boos” at the opening ceremony in Milan. (NBC Sports denied reports it edited out the booing from U.S. coverage.)
The Olympics have long been a more natural place for sports and politics to collide, and this year, the Games—not the Super Bowl—has become the political football.
Story in bio.