Bon Jovi’s beef with Trump

Jon Bon Jovi has a weird history with former President Trump, said Hadley Freeman in The Guardian (U.K.). Back in 2014, the rock singer and a group of Canadian investors tried to buy the Buffalo Bills after the NFL team’s longtime owner died. Trump also coveted the team and allegedly exaggerated his net worth by more than $4 billion in order to secure a loan for his bid. Bon Jovi’s group placed a higher bid, but after unfounded rumors spread than it planned to move the team to another city, residents of Buffalo turned on Bon Jovi, with “Bon Jovi–free” zones and hateful graffiti sprouting up. It later emerged that the anti–Bon Jovi campaign was led by Michael Caputo, a political strategist hired by Trump. (As a Trump administration official, Caputo pressured government scientists to downplay the Covid-19 crisis and put a positive spin on their research.) “I was really shocked at the depths [Trump] went to,” says Bon Jovi, 58. “He did this dark shadow assassination thing, hoping to buy the team at a bargain basement price. It was seriously scarring.” Neither Bon Jovi nor Trump ultimately submitted the winning bid, but the rock star wonders whether, if Trump had succeeded in buying the Bills, he might not have run for president two years later. “For the sake of the world,” Bon Jovi says, “he definitely should have got the team.”