Rod Stewart made jokes about an “orange” Donald Trump during a Las Vegas performance.
The 79-year-old singer, who recently flew a Ukrainian flag in Germany to a mixed reception, is currently touring the US, performing a string of shows at the Colosseum that began on 24 July and are set to finish on 7 August.
While performing on stage, he abruptly stopped the gig in front of thousands of fans to show a meme on the huge screen behind him. The image was of a tweet with various images of Donald Trump through the years, with his skin colour gradually deepening from a paler shade before morphing into a tangerine-like hue.
A caption to the image made reference to Trump’s comments about fellow US presidential candidate Kamala Harris, when the Republican presidential candidate said he was not aware Harris was Black, until “all of a sudden, she made a turn and she went… she became a Black person”.
The tweet Stewart projected on to the screen began: “I didn’t know he was orange until a number of years ago, when he happened to turn orange.”
It continued: “I respect either one, but he obviously doesn’t and now he wants to be known as Orange. All of a sudden he made a turn and became an Orange person. I think someone should look into that.”
Stewart also reposted the tweet to his 1.4 million followers on Instagram. Some Trump supporters were not happy in the comment section.
“Way to turn off much of your fan base, Rod,” wrote one person along with sarcastic clapping emojis.
“Oh no! Now you! So out of touch!” commented another person. “Glad I did not buy those expensive tickets to the show at Agua Caliente! After decades of being a fan. No thanks! Trump 2024.”
“People in the entertainment industry should keep their opinions to themselves!! They have no idea about the real world,” criticised another.
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However, others defended the musician as they wrote: “I don’t know why you have so many MAGA (Make America Great Again) people on your Instagram, but don’t even listen to them. Your post was funny as hell. He is soon to be orange marmalade toast!!”