Justin Timberlake Takes Aim at Donald Trump at iHeartRadio Music Awards

The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Daniel Nussbaum

Justin Timberlake took a moment to throw some shade at GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump while presenting an award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles Sunday night.

Timberlake was presenting Taylor Swift with the award for Best Tour when he dropped the reference to Donald Trump, though he didn’t call him out by name.

“Some people are out here to build walls. We ain’t naming no names,” said a wry Timberlake. “But as an artist — that was a political joke. Shut up, you can’t even vote! I’m kidding, I’m kidding! — Taylor chooses to knock down walls, and invite everyone to be on her #squad.”

Twitter was predictably thrilled:

https://twitter.com/companyskehlani/status/716795572540350464

U2 frontman Bono also made a tongue-in-cheek reference to Trump while accepting the evening’s Innovator Award on behalf of the Irish rock band:

It’s strange to say that there are places around the world where making music is a crime, where you can go to jail for expressing an opinion, where you can get a punch in the face for disagreeing with some politician somewhere. … That could never happen here, could it?” an equally wry Bono said. “California, America, rock the vote!

https://twitter.com/brandoneatpizza/status/716807374657298433

https://twitter.com/TheeEdge/status/716806494235197441

Making fun of Trump seems to be all the rage at award shows these days. At the Oscars in February, actor Andy Serkis compared the candidate to a “planet-threatening monster,” while Miley Cyrus dinged Trump at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards.

In addition to Best Tour, Swift was awarded Best Female Artist and was nominated in several other big categories at the beginning of the night.

See the complete list of the night’s big winners here, courtesy of Variety.

Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum.

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