Eighties music legend Christopher Cross atoned for Trump’s sins during a show at Toronto’s RBC Amphitheater on the shore of Lake Ontario Sunday night.
Cross, who won five Grammy awards in 1981 for his debut album, opened Sunday with his 2011 song “Dreamers,” which features part of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
“It’s a recording from something quite famous in our country, but you may not know what it was,” Cross explained in a direct address to the audience. “It was a gentleman named Dr. Martin Luther King, speaking about civil rights. It represents a very dark time in my country, which is happening again.”
Cross’ apology comes in the midst of Trump’s inane campaign against America’s northern neighbors, which includes waging a pointless trade war and renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America” in a move that even MAGA allies have called childish.
After trade negotiations collapsed, Trump called Canada an “abuser” of the U.S. and imposed a 50 percent tariff on $20 billion of Canadian goods; in response, several Canadian provinces and territories have banned the sale of U.S. liquor.
“I want to tell you that we love your country and appreciate your country very much,” Cross said. “I’m just very sorry and embarrassed that we have an a--hole for a president. 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 s--t again, and you’ll be buying all our s--t again. We can be victims of corporate greed together.”
The audience’s cheers grew louder as Cross continued.
“Alright, enough of my preaching here,” he said. “I’m sure you’ll be reading in the paper where I’ve been ejected from the country, but that’s OK. I wanted to say what I had to say.”
At the same venue the night before, Canadian rock band Blue Rodeo called Trump out as well. Before playing their 1993 song “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet,” which features the lyrics “Watching the snow fall on this cold December night, and out in the middle of Lake Ontario, the same snow is falling on the deep silent water,” lead vocalist Greg Keelor pointed at the lake and spoke to the crowd.
“I would just like you to sing tonight with full authority and ownership,” he said. “And we’ll sing this one for the shining waters that have been there long before any of us were ever here.”
