Phil Collins Criticizes Trump's 'Nasty' Demeanor, Teases Song 'Fat People With Guns'

Phil Collins sat down with Piers Morgan on a Friday in October and did not mince words about Donald Trump. The 75-year-old British rock icon, weeks away from induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist, offered a blunt assessment when asked his opinion of the president: "not a lot." What followed was a critique not of Trump's policies but of his basic presentation—the way he carries himself, the tone he sets. "His whole manner is unattractive," Collins said. He drew a contrast to the presidents who came before, men he remembered as eloquent and dignified, leaders you could respect even if you disagreed with them fundamentally. Trump, by his account, had crossed a line. "When someone like Trump is as nasty as he is, you end up feeling dislike for him."

But the interview yielded something else that caught attention: Collins revealed he has been sitting on a song concept, unwritten but preserved, titled "Fat People With Guns." He described it as being about America. The phrase had struck him enough to write it down so he would not lose it—a note to himself about a future composition that might never materialize. It was the kind of offhand remark that can linger, especially when a musician with Collins' stature says it on a platform like Morgan's.

The comments arrived amid a larger conversation in the entertainment world about what happens when artists use their visibility to criticize not just politicians but the country itself. Two PR professionals offered competing perspectives on the risk. Doug Eldridge, founder of Achilles PR, told Fox News Digital that there is a meaningful difference between targeting a specific politician and making sweeping statements about American culture. Most Americans, he noted, focus on elections during election years and have other priorities the rest of the time. When an artist moves from criticizing a party or a policy to criticizing America more broadly, the calculation changes. "The statement is free, but the response will prove costly," Eldridge said. Sarah Schmidt, president of Interdependence, a PR firm, reinforced the point: audiences can turn sharply against an artist when they perceive the criticism as directed at the American people themselves rather than at elected officials or specific policies. A musician mocking a USA chant from the stage, she said, is not commenting on governance—it is criticizing the beliefs of the people who buy tickets and stream songs.

Collins also ventured into speculation about Trump's future in office. He expressed doubt that the president would respect the constitutional two-term limit, saying it would not surprise him if Trump attempted to circumvent the restriction. He later qualified the remark by describing himself as "not a political person," a characterization that sat oddly against the substance of what he had just said. Trump himself had addressed the question months earlier, in August, telling reporters that while he would love to run again, the law was clear and strong. The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, explicitly prohibits any person from being elected president more than twice.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for a response to Collins' remarks but received no immediate reply. The interview underscored a tension that has become familiar in recent years: the space between a musician's right to speak and the commercial consequences of speaking, the gap between what an artist believes and what an audience will tolerate hearing.