UK Music Icon Claims Donald Trump Acts Like He Is on Drugs in Scathing Attack on US President

Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder has launched a foul-mouthed attack on Donald Trump, alleging US President behaves like a 'manic, cracked-up version' of the musician during his own drug-taking years.

Ryder made the remarks ahead of the band's appearance at Y Not Festival in Pikehall, Derbyshire, where they are scheduled to perform at the festival, which runs from Thursday 30 July to Sunday 2 August.

Ryder's comments stem from an interview to Daily Star, in which the singer offered an intensely personal, and entirely unsubstantiated, reading of Trump's behaviour in office. He did not present evidence for his allegation that Trump was 'on something,' and his comments should be understood as 'political insult' and opinion, not a claim established by medical or official evidence.

'I hate him,' Ryder said. 'It's like having, you know, the most manic, cracked-up version of me being a President of the United States. He's a fu***ing fool.'

Shaun Ryder's Donald Trump Broadside

Ryder, never exactly known for polishing down an opinion, compared Trump's presidency with how he imagines he might have acted had he been handed the same power while allegedly using drugs.

It is a wild comparison, even by the standards of a performer whose public image has long been tied to excess, recovery and the unruly years of Madchester.

The singer did not hold back. In the interview, he allegedly called Trump a 'moron,' a 'p***k' and a 'c**t,' while saying he would not visit the United States while the current President remains in office.

'I wouldn't dream of going there anymore when that man's in power,' Ryder said. 'I really wouldn't.'

Trump's office was not represented in the interview. The accusation by Ryder which alleges that the President uses drugs is not confirmed.

Ryder's rant is less a political analysis than a snapshot of a musician speaking in his own unmistakable register. He has spent decades turning disorder into part of the act, from the Happy Mondays' baggy-era chaos to television appearances that have made him a familiar face far beyond the band's original audience.

That history gives the line some colour, certainly. It does not give it evidential weight. Still, the bluntness matters because it reflects a wider strain of celebrity frustration around Trump, whose combative public style has made him an unusually magnetic target for musicians, comedians and television figures. Ryder simply says the quiet bit very loudly. And then keeps going.

Donald Trump Row Meets Ryder's US Problem

Ryder's vow to avoid America is not solely about Trump. He said travelling there has been difficult for years because of his past, describing a long and exhausting process involving the US Embassy.

'Me and Bez don't go to America anymore,' he said, referring to Happy Mondays dancer and longtime collaborator Mark 'Bez' Berry. 'It's very, very difficult for me to get in America. I have to go through a proper song and dance.'

Ryder said he had previously been banned from entering the US for ten years and had since faced ongoing restrictions or scrutiny when seeking permission to travel. He placed that process from around 2005, saying it had continued for roughly 21 years.

The exact terms of his US immigration status have not been independently documented. The practical frustration is clear enough. Even if Trump left office tomorrow, Ryder suggested, the paperwork and uncertainty would remain a serious deterrent. 'It's just a real ball ache getting in,' he said. 'So f** 'em.'

Ryder's remarks land at the intersection of personal grievance, travel barriers and a musician's old instinct to say precisely what other people might be too careful to say.