Key Takeaways
- Christopher Cross apologized to Canadians during his Toronto concert and called Donald Trump "an asshole," urging the crowd not to "give up on us" ahead of the next U.S. election.
- Opening for Toto, Cross began with "Dreamers" and a clip from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, saying America’s dark civil-rights era "is happening again."
- His remarks came as U.S.-Canada tensions escalated over tariffs and Trump's executive order renaming Lake Ontario "Lake America," which Ontario Premier Doug Ford rejected.
Christopher Cross used a recent concert in Toronto to deliver an apology to Canadians and a pretty pointed message about U.S. president, Donald Trump.
Opening for Toto at the RBC Amphitheatre on Sunday (August 30), Cross addressed the crowd with remarks that quickly circulated online. "I'm just very sorry and embarrassed that we have an asshole for a president," he told the audience in a video shared by Yacht Rock on Instagram.
He continued: "But don't give up on us. We have an election coming up, and we're going to do our best to fix it. And then we'll be buying all your shit again, and you'll be buying all our shit again. We can be victims of corporate greed together."
The concert came during a sharp deterioration in U.S.-Canada relations, after Donald Trump levied a 50 percent tariff on $20 billion in Canadian goods after trade talks broke down; Canada responded with counter-tariffs of up to 50 percent on American imports. Several Canadian provinces and territories also moved to ban U.S. liquor sales.
Cross opened his set with his 2011 track "Dreamers," which featured a clip of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. He told the crowd the recording came from "a gentleman named Dr. Martin Luther King, speaking about civil rights," adding: "It represents a very dark time in my country, which is happening again."
He closed his remarks with a joke and some self-awareness. "Alright, enough of my preaching here," he said from the stage. "I'm sure you'll be reading in the paper where I've been ejected from the country, but that's okay. I wanted to say what I had to say."
The venue Cross played at sits on the banks of Lake Ontario, the same body of water President Trump signed an executive order to rename "Lake America" just three days earlier. The order, formally titled "Honoring the American History of the Great Lakes and Renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America," directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to scrub the name from all federal records within 30 days.
On Saturday (August 29), Trump posted an AI-generated video to Truth Social depicting himself as a Canada goose commanding a machine-gun-toting goose army firing into the Toronto skyline, captioned: "Lake America — Protected by Donald Ducks."
Ontario Premier Doug Ford pushed back, telling Trump "[he] can call it whatever he wants, but I can tell you the rest of the world will always call it Lake Ontario."
"We're resilient and we're strong Canadians who are always going to protect our sovereignty, always, and we'll never ever back down from a bully, ever," he told reporters (via NPR).
Christopher Cross is currently wrapping up a 32-date North American tour alongside Toto. His 1980 hit "Ride Like the Wind" has seen a recent resurgence, appearing prominently in the latest season of HBO's Euphoria, and getting an official remix from DJ and producer Party Pupils.
