Rod Stewart Says Donald Trump Became ‘Another Guy’ After Election

Rod Stewart has opened up about the friend breakup he went through with his old neighbor in Florida — President Donald Trump.

In an interview with Radio Times, Stewart said he used to know Trump “very, very well,” and they often spent time together when they lived near each other in Florida (“literally half a mile away,” Stewart said). “I used to go to his house,” Stewart said, adding: “We’re both on the beach. I used to go to his Christmas parties.”

Stewart said one thing he liked about Trump was that he was always “a bit of a man’s man,” but quickly added the caveat: “[H]e didn’t, as far as I’m concerned, treat women very well.” And he said that since Trump became president, he’s turned into “another guy. Somebody I didn’t know.”

The musician said he can no longer call Trump a friend, specifically raising the issue of the war in Gaza and the weapons that the U.S. (and the U.K.) continue to supply to Israel. 

“As long as he’s selling arms to the Israelis — and he still is. How’s that war ever gonna stop?” Stewart said. “And we [the U.K.] should stop selling them as well … What [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is doing to the Palestinians is exactly what happened to the Jews. It’s annihilation, and that’s all he wants to do — get rid of them all. I don’t know how they sleep at night.”

Earlier this month, Stewart was forced to cancel and postpone a handful of shows in the U.S. as he recovered from a bout with the flu. As it stands, he’s set to return to the stage at Glastonbury on June 29 when he’ll headline the festival’s Pyramid Stage in the “Legends slot.” 

He’ll return to North American soon after, with a trek kicking off July 3 in Quebec and through mid-September. He’s also set to resume his residency at the Coloseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Sept. 24.