Last month, country music star Jelly Roll, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, had a moment to remember at the UFC 309 event in Madison Square Garden, New York City. He crossed paths with President-elect Donald Trump, sparking a whirlwind of reactions online, especially after fans picked apart the body language between the two.
Jelly Roll didn’t shy away from the topic and addressed it on the latest episode of his wife Bunnie XO’s podcast, Dumb Blonde. Sharing the excitement of the night, he said, “It didn’t matter who you were in that building; the energy was electric. The hair on your arms stood up. You couldn’t help but feel the power of the moment.”
He explained how Trump’s entrance was a spectacle. “You’re watching the president-elect, who had just won the election like eight days ago, walking in with almost his entire cabinet, his kids, his grandkids. It was such a powerful moment, no matter which side of the political aisle you’re on,” he said.
The star-studded event, held just 11 days after the election, brought out some of Trump’s most well-known supporters, including Elon Musk, Kid Rock, and UFC founder and CEO Dana White. Jelly Roll was just one of many soaking in the moment, but his visible excitement caught the internet’s attention.
Social media videos showed Jelly Roll grinning as Trump walked by, and he admitted he was initially disappointed not to meet him. “When Trump walked right by me, I thought, ‘Well, damn, he doesn’t know who I am.’ I was kind of sad,” he said, describing the scene.
But the story didn’t end there. “Then Trump makes eye contact with me and gives me that signature Trump point,” Jelly Roll recounted with a laugh. “I went to shake his hand and put my hand on his shoulder—honestly, I was worried the Secret Service might not like that. But then Trump put his hand on my shoulder too.”
To Jelly Roll’s surprise, Trump told him he was a fan of his emotional ballad Save Me, released in 2020. “He said I was doing incredible things,” Jelly Roll shared, clearly moved by the compliment.
Reflecting on the backlash he received online for meeting Trump, Jelly Roll stood his ground. “There was no way I wasn’t going to meet the president-elect,” he said firmly. “And I’d do the same if Joe Biden called me up. That’s the president, whether I agree with their policies or not.”
Jelly Roll also explained that he doesn’t consider himself political. “I’m not the type to hide behind the ‘I’m not political’ thing—I really am not political! I don’t know enough about policies to act like I do,” he admitted.
He opened up about his upbringing in Tennessee, where politics weren’t a big topic in his family. “We didn’t watch election night. I don’t have a single memory of my family sitting down and talking about who was getting elected,” he said. “But they did teach me to respect the president, no matter who it was. That’s the hardest job in the world, and they deserve respect for it.”
Jelly Roll’s perspective is simple: whether you agree with the person or not, moments like this are historic. And for him, meeting the president-elect was an unforgettable experience.
