Sometimes supportive boyfriend duties call. But you know who I'm rooting for.
In the opening days of the 2026 World Cup, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chose to sit beside his girlfriend Katy Perry in Los Angeles as she performed at the tournament's opening ceremony, rather than attend Canada's first match playing simultaneously in Toronto. Though no longer in office, Trudeau remains a figure onto whom national feeling is projected, and his absence from that symbolic moment reminded us how public figures are never fully released from the expectations their prominence creates. The episode is less about football than about the enduring human tension between private devotion and public belonging.
- Trudeau's choice to watch the USA game in Los Angeles while Canada drew 1-1 with Bosnia ignited immediate and fierce criticism across Canadian social media.
- Viral footage of the couple embracing and sharing drinks in the stands transformed a personal evening into a national controversy overnight.
- Trudeau attempted to defuse the backlash with a lighthearted social media post invoking 'supportive boyfriend duties' and a Canadian flag emoji — but the gesture landed poorly.
- Critics called the decision a 'slap in the face' and labelled him a traitor, revealing how deeply Canadians still hold him to the standard of his former office.
- With the tournament only beginning, the incident has settled into the background noise of the World Cup — a story about loyalty, symbolism, and the price of visibility that refuses to quietly disappear.
Justin Trudeau spent Friday night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, beer in hand, watching the United States beat Paraguay 4-1 in the opening round of the 2026 World Cup. Beside him was Katy Perry, who had just performed at the tournament's opening ceremony — a deliberate choice of Wonder, a lesser-known ballad from her 2024 album, which she felt suited the occasion. Cameras found the couple repeatedly throughout the broadcast: close, relaxed, and entirely visible.
At the same time, three time zones away, Canada was playing Bosnia and Herzegovina. Trudeau was not there. By the following morning, the internet had rendered its verdict: this was a betrayal. On X, one Toronto user called it 'a slap in the face of this country.' Others went further, calling him a traitor and a fraud.
Trudeau, who left the Prime Minister's office in February after nearly a decade, responded with a social media post attempting lightness — 'Sometimes supportive boyfriend duties call' — paired with a Canadian flag emoji to signal where his heart remained. It did not quiet the criticism.
The couple had been public since July 2025 and made their relationship official on Instagram in December. Perry, whose catalog includes some of the most recognisable pop songs of the past two decades, had chosen her World Cup performance carefully. Trudeau's presence there was a show of support for a significant professional moment in her life.
Yet for many Canadians, the optics were impossible to ignore. Trudeau may no longer hold office, but he remains a figure of national symbolism — and the World Cup, it turned out, was a stage on which that symbolism still mattered. Canada drew. The United States won. And the story of where Trudeau chose to sit outlasted both results.
Justin Trudeau sat in the stands at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Friday night, a beer in hand, watching the United States demolish Paraguay 4-1 in the opening round of the 2026 World Cup. Beside him was his girlfriend, pop singer Katy Perry, who had just finished performing the ceremonial opening song—a relatively obscure ballad called Wonder from her 2024 album. When she left the stage, cameras caught her running down to embrace him with a kiss. Throughout the evening, television broadcasts cut to the couple repeatedly: sipping drinks, leaning close, comfortable in their visibility.
Back in Toronto, three time zones away, Canada was playing Bosnia and Herzegovina. The match had kicked off at three in the afternoon, hours before the Los Angeles game began at nine. Trudeau was not there. He was not in the stadium. He was not watching from a suite with other Canadian officials or dignitaries. He was in Los Angeles, supporting his girlfriend's career moment, and by the next morning, the internet had decided this was a betrayal.
Trudeau, the former Prime Minister who left office in February after nearly a decade leading the country, responded to the criticism with a social media post that attempted levity. "Sometimes supportive boyfriend duties call," he wrote. "But you know who I'm rooting for to take the Cup," he added, with a Canadian flag emoji. The message was meant to acknowledge the tension while signaling his patriotic allegiance. It did not work. On X, formerly Twitter, a user from Toronto called the decision "a slap in the face of this country. Distasteful doesn't begin to cover it." Others were harsher. Trudeau was called a traitor, a fraud, a man who had abandoned his nation at a moment when it mattered.
The couple's relationship had been public knowledge since July 2025, when they were first photographed together. They made it official in December with an Instagram post. Perry, one of the world's most successful recording artists with a catalog of massive hits—California Girls, Teenage Dream, Firework, ET—had chosen to perform Wonder at the World Cup opening ceremony. She had explained to People Magazine that she deliberately selected the lesser-known song because "it's very fitting for the ceremonial song that I get to sing." It was a deliberate artistic choice, a moment of professional significance for her.
Trudeau's presence at that moment, his choice to be there rather than in Toronto, collapsed the distance between his private life and his public identity in a way that made many Canadians uncomfortable. He was no longer Prime Minister—that role had ended months earlier—but he remained a figure of national prominence, a man whose choices still carried symbolic weight. Canada's match ended in a 1-1 draw. The United States won decisively. The optics, as they say, were not ideal.
Trudeau had been married to television host Sophie Grégoire for eighteen years before they announced their separation in 2023. They have three children together. Perry had been married to English comedian Russell Brand from 2010 to 2012. Both had moved on, found each other, and built something public and visible. But the World Cup, it seemed, was a moment when the nation expected its former leader to choose country over romance. He did not. And now, as the tournament unfolds, that choice remains the story people are talking about.
Notable Quotes
Sometimes supportive boyfriend duties call. But you know who I'm rooting for to take the Cup.— Justin Trudeau, on social media
A slap in the face of this country. Distasteful doesn't begin to cover it.— Toronto X user, criticizing Trudeau's choice
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did this moment become so charged? He's not Prime Minister anymore.
Because symbols don't retire when politicians do. He's still recognizable, still carries the weight of having led the country. When he chooses to be elsewhere during a national sporting moment, it reads as a statement.
But he's allowed to have a personal life. He's allowed to support his girlfriend.
Of course he is. But there's a difference between having a private life and having it broadcast during the opening ceremony of a World Cup on home soil. The visibility made it impossible to ignore.
Did he have to go? Could Perry have performed without him there?
Absolutely. But he went anyway, and then the cameras found them together, and then it became a story about priorities. That's what stung people—not that he has a girlfriend, but that he seemed to choose her moment over his country's.
What does he lose from this?
Goodwill, mostly. A certain kind of respect. The narrative shifts from 'former PM moves on with his life' to 'former PM abandons national moment for romance.' It's not fair, exactly, but it's how these things work.