Blue Rodeo use audience to call out Donald Trump for Lake Ontario name change

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Blue Rodeo use audience to call out Donald Trump for Lake Ontario name change

Far Out · 16 hours ago

Canadian rock band Blue Rodeo used a Toronto concert to publicly rebuke US President Donald Trump over his move to rename Lake Ontario "Lake America," turning the moment into a collective act of defiance with their audience. During a performance at the RBC Amphitheater on 29 August, which overlooks the lake, frontman Greg Keelor introduced their 1993 song "Hasn't Hit Me Yet" by acknowledging the lake's name had become "a little controversial" and urged the crowd to sing the relevant lyric "with full authority and ownership."

The roughly 16,000-strong audience responded enthusiastically, prompting bandmate Jim Cuddy to call the moment "chilling" before adding an expletive-laden dismissal of Trump. Trump's executive order, issued amid US-Canada trade tensions, has already led Google Maps to relabel the lake "Lake America," but Canadian figures including Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford have pushed back; Ford unveiled a lakeside billboard the same day reading "Lake Ontario. Now and Always," insisting the name would outlast Trump's presidency.

  • Blue Rodeo led fans in defying Trump's "Lake America" renaming at a Toronto gig.
  • Trump's executive order prompted Google Maps to rename Lake Ontario.
  • Ontario Premier Doug Ford and PM Mark Carney are also opposing the change.

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