Rosie O’Donnell has voiced outrage over Donald Trump’s reported influence on World Cup decisions that led to the revocation of Folarin Balogun’s suspension. The 64-year-old former talk show host said she was “horrified” that Trump was able to “get away with pretty much everything,” calling it “sickening.”
Rosie says the fake AI video and Donald Trump’s role in the Folarin Balogun controversy left her horrified
O’Donnell made the comments while promoting her upcoming one-woman show, Rosie O’Donnell: Common Knowledge, debuting July 22 at New York City’s Daryl Roth Theatre. She told Variety, “The fact that [Balogun] did not say, ‘I will not play this game,’ and the fact that the coach of the American team did not say, ‘This is not how we win,’ and that everyone was just like, ‘Well, whatever!’ I was horrified. I’m horrified that he is able to get away with pretty much everything, and it’s sickening.”
Balogun received a red card after a video review determined he had stepped on an opponent’s ankle during the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Following this, Trump said he spoke with FIFA President Gianni Infantino. He explained, as quoted by Yahoo Sports, “Yes, I asked for a review by FIFA. I spoke to a man [Infantino] who is highly respected. I’m the one who got them to do it, not Biden. Biden was asleep.”
Last week, Trump shared an AI-generated video depicting himself as a doctor diagnosing celebrities, including O’Donnell, with the fictional “Trump derangement syndrome.” Talking about his actions, O’Donnell said, “He was allowed to go on a show [‘The Apprentice’] that was a reality show, and it was sold as fact when it was in fact fiction, because he was broke — one of the many times that he was broke — and this is a man who has been a failure at everything he’s ever tried, and he is mediocre beyond mediocre, and the fact that he is running our nation is an abomination.”
O’Donnell said she believes it is “the worst thing that ever happened to our country” and stressed that it needs to be rectified sooner rather than later if the country is to remain a democratic republic. She further said she would never give up her American citizenship and argued that it could only be taken from a citizen under specific conditions, no matter what the current president says.
Trump’s role in the Balogun controversy has faced strong backlash. Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who stepped down after a corruption scandal and was replaced by Infantino in 2016, also criticized Trump on X, writing, “Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls. They are overturned by rules, evidence, and independent bodies.”
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