Celebrities including Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Sir Paul McCartney and Bradley Cooper were out in force for arguably America’s biggest sporting event of the year – the Super Bowl – as the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22.
But it wasn’t just the stars of music and acting who were among the crowds to watch the American football spectacle at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Donald Trump made history by becoming the first sitting US president to attend a Super Bowl.
Pop superstar Swift was there to cheer on her boyfriend Travis Kelce, who plays for the Kansas City Chiefs. The team were trying to win their third Super Bowl title in a row.
X
This content is provided by X, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable X cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to X cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow X cookies for this session only.
When the singer’s face appeared on the Jumbotron, some Eagles fans started booing her.
Later, Mr Trump trolled her, writing on his Truth Social platform: “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!”
Swift had endorsed Mr Trump’s rival Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Image: Taylor Swift seen in the stands. Pic: Reuters
Image: Swift speaks to musician and actress Alana Haim. Pic: Reuters
Before Sunday’s game, Mr Trump walked on to the field to meet families of the victims of the New Year’s Day terror attack in the city, as well as police and other emergency personnel.
Fourteen people were killed and dozens of others injured when US Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a pick-up truck into crowds on Bourbon Street early on 1 January this year. He was then shot dead by police.
Image: Mr Trump met relatives of the victims of the New Year’s Day attack, as well as police and other emergency personnel. Pic: Reuters
When Mr Trump entered the stadium, he was greeted with a mix of cheers and boos from the crowd.
He watched Super Bowl 59 from a box, along with his daughter Ivanka and son Eric, as well as several politicians who accompanied him on Air Force One to New Orleans. First Lady Melania Trump did not attend.
Image: President Trump, alongside his daughter Ivanka, during the national anthem. Pic: Reuters
Trump’s previous criticism of NFL
During his first term in office, Mr Trump criticised the National Football League (NFL) and its members after black players kneeled during the US national anthem to bring attention to racial injustice.
Image: Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie lifts the Vince Lombardi Trophy after his team defeated the Kansas City Chiefs. Pic: Reuters
For Sunday’s game, the league put the phrase “Choose Love” behind one of the end zones. It replaced the previous phrase “End Racism”, which has been used since 2021.
Famous faces
Stars in the stands included Taylor Swift, Jay-Z and former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, as well as Hollywood stars Adam Sandler, Paul Rudd and Kevin Costner.
X
This content is provided by X, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable X cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to X cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow X cookies for this session only.
Image: Samuel L Jackson took part in the half-time show. Pic: AP
The rapper also teased a performance of his Drake diss track Not Like Us.
“I wanna play their favourite song but you know they love to sue,” Lamar told the women dancers behind him, referencing fellow rapper Drake and the current lawsuits around the song.
Lamar went on to perform the track which was named song and record of the year at the Grammys last weekend.
Drake is suing Universal Music Group for defamation and harassment, over its release of Not Like Us last year.
He has claimed the track contained defamatory content accusing him of serious misconduct.
Spreaker
This content is provided by Spreaker, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spreaker cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spreaker cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spreaker cookies for this session only.
There were around 80 Super Bowl advertising slots and some cost a record $8m for 30 seconds this year.
Among the adverts, football star David Beckham and actor Matt Damon were long-lost twins who bonded over a beer, while Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal re-enacted their famous deli scene from 1989’s When Harry Met Sally, except this time Sally was expressing her enthusiasm for mayonnaise.
Also, British singer Seal became an actual seal that was sad he could not hold a drink with his flippers, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and comedian Pete Davidson teamed up for a cookware commercial, and The Muppets searched for accommodations with a booking site.
BST Hyde Park festival has cancelled its final night after Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra pulled out of the headline slot.
Lynne, 77, was due to play alongside his band on Sunday but has been forced to withdraw from the event following a “systemic infection”.
The London show was supposed to be a “final goodbye” from ELO following their farewell US tour.
Organisers said on Saturday that Lynne was “heartbroken” at being unable to perform.
A statement read: “Jeff has been battling a systemic infection and is currently in the care of a team of doctors who have advised him that performing is simply not possible at this time nor will he be able to reschedule.
“The legacy of the band and his longtime fans are foremost in Jeff’s mind today – and while he is so sorry that he cannot perform, he knows that he must focus on his health and rehabilitation at this time.”
They later confirmed the whole of Sunday’s event would be cancelled.
“Ticket holders will be refunded and contacted directly by their ticket agent with further details,” another statement said.
Stevie Wonder played the festival on Saturday – now its final event of 2025.
US rock band The Doobie Brothers and blues rock singer Steve Winwood were among those who had been due to perform to before ELO’s headline performance.
The cancellation comes after the band, best known for their hit Mr Blue Sky, pulled out of a performance due to take place at Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena on Thursday.
ELO was formed in Birmingham in 1970 by Lynne, multi-instrumentalist Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan.
They first split in 1986, before frontman Lynne resurrected the band in 2014.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Image: Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:46
Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
The Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s fourth book has been delayed by her publisher.
It comes amid claims that the author lied about her story in her hit first book. Winn previously described the claims as “highly misleading” and called suggestions that her husband had Moth made up his illness “utterly vile”.
In a statement, Penguin Michael Joseph, said it had delayed the publication of Winn’s latest book On Winter Hill – which had been set for release 23 October.
The publisher said the decision had been made in light of “recent events, in particular intrusive conjecture around Moth’s health”, which it said had caused “considerable distress” to the author and her family.
“It is our priority to support the author at this time,” the publisher said.
“With this in mind, Penguin Michael Joseph, together with the author, has made the decision to delay the publication of On Winter Hill from this October.”
A new release date will be announced in due course, the publisher added.
Spotify
This content is provided by Spotify, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spotify cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spotify cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spotify cookies for this session only.
Winn’s first book, released in 2018, detailed the journey she and husband took along the South West Coast Path – familiarly known as The Salt Path – after they lost their family farm and Moth received a terminal health diagnosis of Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD).
But a report in The Observer disputed key aspects of the 2018 “true” story – which was recently turned into a film starring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson.
Image: Raynor and husband Moth (centre) with actors Jason Isaacs (L) and Gillian Anderson (R). Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
Experts ‘sceptical of health claims’
As part of the article, published last weekend, The Observer claimed to have spoken to experts who were “sceptical” about elements of Moth’s terminal diagnosis, such as a “lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them”.
In the ensuing controversy, PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD, cut ties with the couple.
The Observer article also claimed the portrayal of a failed investment in a friend’s business wasn’t true, but said the couple – whose names are Sally and Tim Walker – lost their home after Raynor Winn embezzled money from her employer and had to borrow to pay it back and avoid police action.
Image: Anderson played Winn in a movie about the couple’s journey. Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
It also said that, rather than being homeless, the couple had owned a house in France since 2007.
Winn’s statement said the dispute with her employer wasn’t the reason the couple lost their home – but admitted she may have made “mistakes” while in the job.
“For me it was a pressured time,” she wrote. “It was also a time when mistakes were being made in the business. Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.”
She admitted being questioned by police but said she wasn’t charged.
The author also said accusations that Moth lied about having CBD/CBS were false and had “emotionally devastated” him.
“I have charted Moth’s condition with such a level of honesty, that this is the most unbearable of the allegations,” Winn wrote on her website.