Rod Stewart and Donald Trump may live close to one another, but that doesn’t mean the rock star feels any sort of neighborly way about the President of the United States.
In an interview with Radio Times published Tuesday (June 17) ahead of his upcoming Glastonbury performance, Stewart didn’t hold back when asked about the mogule-turned-politician, with whom he used to be friends. “I’m not a great fan of Trump,” he told the publication. “I knew him very, very well. I used to go to his house.”
“I live literally half a mile away,” continued Stewart, who has a residence in Palm Beach, Fla. “We’re both on the beach. I used to go to his Christmas parties. He’s always been a bit of a man’s man. I liked him for that. But he didn’t, as far as I’m concerned, treat women very well.”
Stewart added that he thinks becoming the leader of the country changed his former pal for the worse. “Since he became president, he became another guy,” the musician said. “Somebody I didn’t know.”
Trump and Stewart were friends for many years. Even leading up to the 2016 election — which the billionaire ended up winning, securing his first of two nonconsecutive White House terms — the Grammy winner stood by his fellow Floridian, telling Billboard when asked about the election in 2015, “I have strong political beliefs, [but] I don’t want to get into it … Donald Trump happens to be a friend of mine.”
Now, Stewart says he definitely doesn’t consider Trump a friend, citing one policy issue in particular as unforgivable. “No, I can’t anymore,” the artist said. “As long as he’s selling arms to the Israelis — and he still is. How’s that war ever gonna stop?”
Stewart joins a number of musicians who have criticized Trump’s administration, with many of them similarly taking issue with the U.S. government’s involvement in Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas — a conflict that has resulted in the deaths of more than 50,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023, when the terrorist group incited retaliation after killing 1,200 Israeli civilians and took 251 hostages.
“Someone’s gotta do something,” added Stewart. “What [Israeli President] Netanyahu is doing to the Palestinians is exactly what happened to the Jews. It’s annihilation, and that’s all he wants to do — get rid of them all. I don’t know how they sleep at night.”
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is set to headline Glastonbury later in June, with The 1975, Neil Young and Olivia Rodrigo also leading the four-day festival’s bill. Charli xcx, Doechii, Gracie Abrams, Noah Kahan, Wolf Alice and Busta Rhymes will perform as well.
Stewart’s set will take place after he was forced to postpone a handful of U.S. concert dates due to illness.
