Jelly Roll is shrugging off the criticism.
Appearing on his wife Bunny XO’s podcast Dumb Blonde, the 40-year-old “Save Me” singer spoke about the backlash he received after meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at a UFC event in November.
“There’s no chance I won’t meet the next president,” he said. “If I had gotten a call at any time to go see Joe Biden, I would have stopped what I was doing to go see him. That’s a sitting president! I don’t care what people think. “I don’t think he even cared what I thought about him,” about his policies.
The Grammy nominee was seen greeting Trump when they both attended UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in November. The video showed the singer laughing and exchanging words with the recently won Republican presidential candidate in the 2024 election.
Some interpreted the exchange as an indication that Jelly Roll supports Trump. But on the podcast, he told listeners that he is not a “political” person and that he was raised to respect whoever holds the office because being president is “the hardest job in the world.” .
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“I’m not hiding behind the words ‘I’m not political.’ I’m not political,” he said. “…I like to talk about things that I’m passionate about. At the same time, I want to know about it. What’s going on, what someone stands for, policy I don’t know enough about politics to act like I know.” Wisely, I really don’t know. ”
Politics aside, Jelly Roll claimed it was “powerful” to see the president-elect walk into Madison Square Garden for the event. He said he was initially unsure whether he would be able to meet Trump until the former president made eye contact, pointed at him, and the singer walked up to him.
After shaking hands, Trump said he loved his song “Save Me” and said, “You’re doing an incredible thing,” according to Jelly Roll.
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“It was great to meet President Trump,” he said. “Ultimately, I don’t really care what kind of backlash there is on this. To tell you the truth, it was really nice to meet the president.”
Jerry Roll, who cannot vote as a convicted felon, previously told Rolling Stone that he would not be giving voting advice to his followers ahead of the 2024 election. “People say, ‘Why don’t you tell people to vote for someone?'” he says. “Are you trying to tell people to vote for a system where I can’t vote?”
