Rosie O’Donnell is calling out the bystanders who allowed President Donald Trump to intervene in the 2026 Fifa World Cup.
The controversy began when U.S. Men’s National Team player Folarin Balogun received a red card during Team USA’s July 1 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, meaning he was banned from the team’s next match against Belgium.
However, the suspension was lifted after Trump made a call to Fifa president Gianni Infantino on Balogun’s behalf, which sparked a widespread debate over political influence.
O’Donnell, a longtime critic of the president, said in an interview with Variety published Thursday: “Now, this might be something that people think is silly, but the fact that he called up Fifa and had the penalty revoked for the American team, and America was like, ‘Yeah, that’s good! I didn’t think it was a red card anyway!’
“Well, you’re not the freakin’ ref! You don’t get to decide!” O’Donnell said. “Since when does he get to make and change the rules, the goalposts, whatever metaphor you want to use, and everyone just sits by and shrugs their shoulders?”
The former talk show host — who relocated to Ireland last year and applied to become a citizen after Trump was elected to the White House for his second term — added: “There’s so much corruption that we don’t even notice it.”
O’Donnell went on to condemn the fact that Balogun did not drop out of the game, and that the coach of the American team, Mauricio Pochettino, did not say, “This is not how we win.”
“I was horrified,” the comedian said. “I was horrified by the fact that he is able to get away with pretty much everything, and it’s sickening.”
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Balogun admitted that he expected backlash after Trump personally intervened in the game. He told CBS, “My initial reaction was I was happy to be back in the team, but when I kind of started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy, and I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves, because it’s something that is so unique.”
He added, “But the closer we got to the game I tried to just focus as best as I could, but it was difficult. A lot of outside noise, and that’s hard to avoid."
Infantino is now facing calls to resign amid an investigation into a formal complaint with the International Olympic Committee alleging that he breached political neutrality rules by dealing with Trump.
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