Trump lashes out at Rihanna, says she has 'no talent' ahead of Super Bowl performance

Former US President Donald Trump unleashed a scathing attack on Rihanna as the Hollywood singer prepares to headline the highly-anticipated half-time show of the 'Super Bowl' after seven years of being off the live-performance radar. Taking to his handle on Truth Social, Trump called the nine-time Grammy winner talentless. “Without her ‘Stylist’ she’d be NOTHING. Bad everything, and NO TALENT!,” the erstwhile president wrote on his social media platform.

What prompted Trump’s scornful remarks was Rihanna’s act of spraypainting “F**k Donald Trump” at the Cadillac Ranch, a tourist attraction in Texas’ Amarillo. The act also outraged Texas Republican congressman Ronny Jackson, who exhorted the National Football League (NFL) to cancel Rihanna’s performance during the upcoming Chiefs v Eagles match-up on Sunday.

“She’s made a career of spewing degenerate filth while badmouthing America every chance she gets. Why is the NFL showcasing this crap? Rihanna SHOULD NOT be the halftime performer!!” Jackson said on social media, according to The Daily Mail. While Trump's hateful post might be recent, his history with Rihanna goes back to 2018, when she found that her tracks were played at a MAGA rally. “Not for much longer…me nor my people would ever be at or around one of those tragic rallies,” she tweeted.

Rihanna calls Trump 'the most mentally ill man'

In 2019, she spoke to Vogue and said that Trump, who was the president at the time, was “the most mentally ill man in America.” Things took a turn for the worse when she visited the Cadillac ranch in 2020 to carry out her act of protest. She later went on to share images of the graffiti with the caption "Art".

After Rihanna spray-painted the anti-Trump graffiti, supporters of the ex-president covered it in black paint. One supporter named Angela Wingate told Texas-based television station KAMR: “I was mad, I mean, it was classless, it was rude and it really looked like she was hiding anyway ... she covered her face with a hoodie. If you’re real proud of what you’re doing, do you cover yourself up? No.”