Big names from many different walks of life — from musicians to late-night show hosts and from actors to podcasters — have fired back at Donald Trump over the tariffs he’s levied on Canadian goods and his move to rename Lake Ontario.
Most recently, the U.S. president signed an executive order renaming the lake “Lake America” in the U.S., following a bitter public spat with Ontario Premier Doug Ford and the collapse of trade talks between Canada and the United States.
Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended negotiations just before Trump’s Aug. 21 midnight deadline for new tariffs, calling the “last-minute changes” made by the U.S. to its proposed terms “unfair, uneconomic and called into question the reliability of any deal.”
The Trump administration has since slapped 50 per cent tariffs on nearly $28 billion worth of Canadian goods, while Ottawa has promised counter-tariffs starting Sept. 8.
Here’s how some prominent people have reacted.
Jelly Roll
American rapper and singer Jelly Roll joined “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” as a guest host on Aug. 24 and 25, around the time when Trump first started proposing the idea of Lake Ontario.
“Here’s the thing, you can’t make the Great Lakes great again, they’re already great, it’s in the f—king name!” he joked, referencing the U.S. president’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Jelly Roll also questioned Trump’s new tariffs on Canada.
“I hate to break it to the president, but we don’t have a problem with Canada, you have a problem with Canada,” he said to loud cheers.
“I say we let ‘em fight it out, Donald Trump versus all of Canada, like the end of Gladiator,” he joked.
Branding the hypothetical as the “Maple Mayhem” and “Saskatoon Smackdown,” Jelly Roll shared a mock-up of a poster with Trump facing Canadian hockey player Connor McDavid.
“Just the president against 31 million hockey goons on the White House lawn,” he said.
Seth Meyers
“Late Night with Seth Meyers” may be on a two-month-long hiatus but its host has continued mocking Trump’s escalating feud with Canada through his video podcast series “A Closer Look: Proof of Life And/Or Out of Office.”
On Aug. 25, Meyers called Trump’s decision to go to war with Canada a “one-sided lunacy” and joked that Ontario Premier Doug Ford looked like a dollar store version of the president.
The following week, he turned his attention to the lake renaming.
“This is some real dork sh—,” Meyers said on his Sept. 3 episode.
“They’re just such dorks,” the host continued. “It is a real reminder that they can’t actually accomplish anything.”
Meyers also joked that changing the lake’s name would have little practical impact.
“Nobody is like, ‘That’s so great. Every time we’d go swimming in Lake Ontario, we had to bring our passport.”
Joe Rogan
Controversial American podcaster Joe Rogan also questioned Trump’s move during the Sept. 1 episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
“Lake Ontario has been Lake Ontario forever. Isn’t it connected to Ontario?” the American host asked his guest, comedian Brian Simpson.
Simpson later asked Rogan if he knew the purpose of Trump’s renaming efforts.
“To distract you from the fact that we’re in a war that we can’t win in Iran,” Rogan said.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” he continued, laughing. “Like who cares (if) it’s Lake Ontario? It’s a good name. We’ve had that name forever.”
Rogan, a longtime Trump supporter who endorsed him ahead of the 2024 election and then attended his inauguration in January 2025, has grown increasingly critical of the Trump administration.
He has opposed Trump over issues including the ongoing conflict with Iran and wide-ranging deportations, calling an operation to detain immigrants “horrific.”
In 2022, Rogan also drew criticism in Canada after calling the country “communist” and referring to then-prime minister Justin Trudeau as a “dictator” over the leader’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
George Clooney
Actor George Clooney criticized the Trump administration’s rhetoric toward Canada while attending the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 2.
Clooney singled out a social media post by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth featuring two female Canadian military cadets, which he reposted with a Canadian flag and the words “this is real.”
“The idea that cruelty is the base — that being cruel and unkind is part of the fun of all of this,” Clooney, a longtime Democratic supporter, told reporters.
“You see what the secretary of defense just tweeted out a picture about women in the military in Canada, and you’re going, ‘What’s wrong with you? Where’s the sense of decency in all of this?’”
Clooney and the Trump administration have also traded comments in recent months.
Back in April, Clooney said Trump was committing a war crime over his threat to Iran that a “whole civilization will die tonight.”
“The only person committing war crimes is George Clooney for his awful movies and terrible acting ability,” White House communications director Steven Cheung responded on X.
Trump also took a dig at Clooney after he was granted French citizenship.
“Good News! George and Amal Clooney, two of the worst political prognosticators of all time, have officially become citizens of France,” Trump wrote to Truth Social.
Carney tells U.S. officials to get serious
Carney, meanwhile, said there is still a “positive opportunity” for a trade deal but accused U.S. officials of taunting Canada and its military.
His comments came after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Canada is a “country that doesn’t have a military” on Fox News last week, while U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent questioned Canada’s military capabilities.
“We’re not at war with Canada. How are we going to be at war with Canada?” Bessent said during an appearance on CNBC Monday. “Are they going to take their two submarines from the Edmonton mall and sic them on us?” Bessent said, referring to the now-defunct submarine attraction at the West Edmonton Mall.
In the same week, Hegseth also posted the image of the female Canadian cadets that drew criticism from Clooney.
“Stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough,” Carney said about Hegseth’s post, adding it was “beneath their office.”
Eby calls Trump ‘a thug and a bully’
British Columbia Premier David Eby joined his prime minister in criticizing Trump after Carney suspended trade talks with the president over the latest round of tariffs.
“The only way to deal with a thug and a bully is to stand up to him,” Eby said on Aug. 26.
“That’s why the prime minister’s step was the right one,” the premier continued. “I’m proud of the prime minister for doing that. I’m proud of Canada for backing the prime minister for that.”
