2025 controversies in the United States

The Super Bowl LX halftime show, officially known as the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show for sponsorship purposes, took place on February 8, 2026, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. It was headlined by Bad Bunny and featured guest appearances from Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, and Los Pleneros de la Cresta. The performance marked the first time a Latino solo artist headlined the Super Bowl halftime show and the first halftime set performed almost entirely in Spanish. Martin is the first openly gay male Super Bowl halftime performer.

California Proposition 50, officially known as the Election Rigging Response Act, is an amendment to the constitution of the U.S. state of California, which was passed by voters in a special election ballot on November 4, 2025. At the urging of California governor Gavin Newsom, the proposition was put on the ballot by the Democratic-controlled California State Legislature. Approved by 64.4% of voters, the proposition's purpose was to redraw the state's congressional districts, replacing the ones drawn by the bipartisan California Citizens Redistricting Commission during the earlier 2020 redistricting cycle. The new districts will be used for the 2026 United States House of Representatives elections through the 2030 elections. Following the 2030 census, congressional redistricting authority will return to the independent commission under the normal decennial process.

Peter Brian Hegseth is an American government official and former television personality who has served since 2025 as the 29th United States secretary of defense.

2025 film directed by Marc Webb

economic conflict since 2018

On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk, an American right-wing political activist, was assassinated at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, while speaking at an outdoor campus debate planned by Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization he co-founded and led. Kirk, aged 31, was a close ally of US president Donald Trump and a highly influential figure in the MAGA movement.

Since 2025, the second Donald Trump administration of the United States has sought to annex Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, triggering an ongoing international diplomatic crisis. This escalated in early 2026 after Trump refused to rule out the use of military force to annex Greenland and threatened a 25% import tax on goods from several European nations unless Denmark ceded Greenland. Trump's statements sparked a confrontation with Denmark and the EU, reigniting earlier concerns of a US–EU trade war. On 21 January, Trump reversed his position at the 2026 Davos conference, pledging not to use force or tariffs to annex Greenland.

On August 22, 2025, Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian woman, was killed at the East/West Boulevard station on the Lynx Blue Line, in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee who had fled her country because of the Russian invasion, was fatally stabbed from behind while seated on the train. The suspect, Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., was arrested upon exiting the train and charged with first-degree murder. In December 2025, he was determined to be incapable of proceeding to trial on state charges.

series of protests in the United States against immigration raids

bilateral meeting between USA and Ukraine on February 28, 2025

Brian Thompson, the CEO of the American health insurance company UnitedHealthcare, was shot to death in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on December 4, 2024. The shooting occurred early in the morning outside an entrance to the New York Hilton Midtown.

The United States has discussed obtaining Greenland from Denmark since the 19th century. There were talks within the US federal government about purchasing Greenland in 1867, advocated by secretary of state William H. Seward, and again in 1910. However, in 1916, the United States proclaimed their recognition of Danish sovereignty over all Greenland as a condition for their purchase of the Virgin Islands in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies. Since World War II, the US has had at least one military base in Greenland. In 1946, the US secretly offered to buy Greenland, but it was rejected by Denmark. Since 1949, Greenland has been under the protection of NATO, of which the US and Denmark are both members. Nevertheless, the Joint Chiefs of Staff proposed acquiring the island in 1955. In the 21st century, Donald Trump proposed acquisition of Greenland during his presidency.

March 2025 United States national security controversy

Man's Best Friend is the seventh studio album by American singer Sabrina Carpenter. It was released on August 29, 2025, through Island Records. Carpenter produced the album with Jack Antonoff and John Ryan, who also produced tracks on her previous studio album, Short n' Sweet (2024). Primarily a pop and soft rock record, its lead single, "Manchild", charted at number one in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and in the top ten in several worldwide territories. Carpenter selected "Tears" as the second single, released concurrently with the album as the second track.

On May 31, 2014, two twelve-year-olds lured their friend, who was also twelve, into a wooded area of Davids Park in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where they attempted to murder and sacrifice her to the Slender Man, a fictional supernatural being originating in creepypasta. Their target, Payton Isabella Leutner, suffered 19 stab wounds, but survived after being rescued by a cyclist.

Global stock market crash spanning April 2–10, 2025, triggered by the U.S. "Liberation Day" announcement of sweeping import tariffs; it resulted in over $6.6 trillion in global market value losses and was nicknamed 'Orange Monday'.

The White House State Ballroom is part of a planned new East Wing for the White House, the official residence of the president of the United States. The new East Wing will replace the original, which was torn down in October 2025 in preparation for the new wing's construction. The site, in Washington, D.C., has been under construction since September 2025. Announced in July 2025, the purpose of the 89,000-square-foot (8,270 m2) expansion is to add a venue with a higher seating capacity than the East Room for formal events such as state dinners. The project has been criticized for its funding, design, permitting process and destruction of historic architectural and landscape features. The National Capital Planning Commission approved the final project design in an 8–1 vote on April 2, 2026. The project's above-ground construction has faced legal challenges, with construction as of April 18 being allowed to continue until June 2026.

controversy involving Elon Musk

2025 single by Kanye West

VShojo, Inc. is an American talent agency that focuses on promoting VTuber content creators based in San Francisco, California. Founded in 2020 as the first major VTuber agency fully based in North America, VShojo bills itself as a "talent first" agency oriented towards providing resources (such as models, merchandising, and advertisement opportunities) to its talent. During its operations, it was generally considered one of three major companies in VTubing, alongside Hololive Production and Nijisanji.

2025 wildfire in Pacific Palisades, California, U.S

2025 feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk

United States government-imposed bans on TikTok

2025 private crewed sub-orbital spaceflight

Internet controversy

geographic naming controversy

clemency proclamation issued by Donald Trump

The Epstein files comprise over six million pages of documents detailing the activities of American financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. So far about three and a half million files have been made public with redactions, among them 180,000 images and 2,000 videos.

2025 deportation of a Salvadoran national from the United States

12 February 2025 phone conversation

2003 gift to the American sex offender

alleged kidnapping plot in 2020

2nd episode of the twenty-seventh season of South Park

meeting between the presidents of South Africa and the U.S

deletion event in 2025

2025 arrest in New York City

upcoming Kanye West album featuring Dave Blunts

On September 8, 2025, the remains of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who was reported missing on April 5, 2024, were discovered in Los Angeles, California, inside the front trunk of an impounded Tesla registered to David Burke, a musician known professionally as D4vd. In April 2026, Burke was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts upon a child under 14 years of age, and mutilation of human remains.