'Boyfriend duties call,' Trudeau says after skipping Canada match to watch Perry

Cameras caught Perry running off stage to greet the former Canadian leader with a kiss. 'Boyfriend duties call,' Trudeau says after skipping Canada at World Cup to watch Katy Perry Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry at the Tribeca Festival's World Premiere of "Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour - Live from Paris" held at the OKX Theater on June 08, 2026 in New York, New York. 'Boyfriend duties call,' Trudeau says after skipping Canada match to watch Perry Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has responded to criticism for skipping his country's first World Cup match to attend a USA game, where his girlfriend, pop superstar Katy Perry, performed. "Sometimes supportive boyfriend duties call. But you know who I'm rooting for to take the Cup," he posted on social media, adding a Canadian flag emoji. The opening matches in Toronto and Los Angeles took place hours apart. Cameras caught Perry running off stage to greet the former Canadian leader with a kiss. Throughout the game, the pair were shown in televised clips sipping beers and canoodling in the stands. But online, some Canadians were not pleased. Katy Perry performs at World Cup opening ceremony Katy Perry and 10-year-old Norwegian singer Tius Luka perform Wonder live during the Opening Ceremony before the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group D match between USA and Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium on June 12, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. One X user from Toronto called it a "a slap in the face of this country. Distasteful doesn't begin to cover it". Others called Trudeau a "traitor" and a "fraud" as clips began to go viral on social media. The former PM missed Canada's 1-1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto, which started at 15:00pm EDT on Friday. Instead, he watched the USA beat Paraguay 4-1 in Los Angeles, with kick off at 21:00 EDT. Perry helped open the first World Cup game in the US with a rendition of the little-known song Wonder from her 2024 album 143. She had teased deciding against performing one of the hits in her rather lengthy catalogue of chart-toppers – from California Girls and Teenage Dream to Firework and ET - before the performance, telling People Magazine that she chose the relatively unknown ballad because "it's very fitting for the ceremonial song that I get to sing". Trudeau and Perry have been publicly linked since July 2025. They officially confirmed their relationship with an Instagram post in December. Trudeau was married for 18 years to TV host Sophie Grégoire, but they announced their split in 2023. They have three children. Perry was married to English comedian Russell Brand from 2010-12. Singers Katy Perry and Tius Luka perform during the opening ceremony before the match IMAGN World Cup kicks off in the US with performances from Katy Perry, Future and Tyla He, and his wife Diana Fox Carney, arrived at Dublin Airport at about 10:00 local time and met Taoiseach (Irish PM) Micheál Martin. The latest assessment marks a shift after Canada accused India in 2023 of carrying out an extrajudicial killing of a Sikh separatist on its soil. The pop star posted a string of photographs of herself and the former Canadian prime minister. The World Cup officially kicked off this week - but alongside the football, there are questions around heat, cost, the environmental impact and travel restrictions. Earlier, Canada hosted its own opening ceremony in Toronto, featuring singers Alanis Morrisette and Michael Bublé. Football fans gathered at a FIFA World Cup watch party at Niagara Falls for the Canadian and USA teams' opening matches.