Katy Perry is set to headline the opening ceremony during the upcoming FIFA World Cup, which is being hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
The 41-year-old pop star was announced as the performer on Friday, May 8, prompting backlash and calls to boycott the global soccer championship. The tournament kicks off in the US on June 12 at SoFi Stadium, with the US team facing Paraguay. Katy, who is dating former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, will reportedly be joined on stage by Future, Sanjoy, and Lisa.
While Katy had multiple chart-topping hits in the 2010s, including Roar, Firework, California Gurls, and Dark Horse, the pop star’s popularity has declined in recent years.
Fans have soured toward the singer over her ties to Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez. Her last album, 143, released in 2024 and produced by controversial hitmaker Dr. Luke, was a critical and commercial flop.
She also recently faced backlash over sexual assault allegations brought by actress Ruby Rose, who claimed the singer assaulted her at a nightclub in 2010. Katy’s reps released a statement denying the allegations, calling them “categorically false” and “dangerous reckless lies.”
Fans responded to the announcement on social media, with several issuing complaints about the controversial pop star performing during the World Cup. “Time for a boycott,” one X user wrote.
“Yall are trying so hard to make her relevant again I’m crying,” a different user wrote. “we want relevant artists,” another echoed.
Others piled in with comments like, “STOP TRYING TO MAKE KATY HAPPEN AGAIN. SHES DONE” and “they really couldn’t pick someone people actually like?”
One soccer spectator wrote, “If she didn’t prepare new song then it will be boring af , cuz no one will be amazed by her 10 years old songs.” Another added, “What songs will she be performing, this world cup is proving to be a disaster!”
A different user fumed, “she can’t even headline an arena why is she headlining the world cup.”
This isn’t the first time Katy will headline a major sporting event. The E.T. hitmaker headlined the Super Bowl in 2015 and famously entered the stage on a giant geometric mechanical lion.
Her Super Bowl show spawned a viral meme after one of her dancers wearing a shark costume, dubbed ‘Left Shark,’ was out of sync with the rest of the performance during the song Teenage Dream.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
