Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed that he unsuccessfully tried to stop a fellow Trump administration official from interrupting Mick Jagger’s dinner during a 2024 visit to London.
Rubio recounted the incident Monday during a reception in Washington, D.C., celebrating Sergio Gor’s appointment as U.S. ambassador to India, according to CBS News.
The encounter took place when Rubio, Gor, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were dining at a London restaurant and spotted the Rolling Stones frontman sitting nearby.
Rubio said Gor, who at the time served as the White House director of presidential personnel, wanted to meet Jagger.
“Sergio’s like, ‘I’m going to go up to him. I’m going to get his picture,'” Rubio said. “I go, ‘Don’t go up to him.'”
Unsure how Jagger would react, Rubio said he pulled out his phone to check the singer’s past comments about President Donald Trump.
“He’s not like an enormous fan of the president,” Rubio said. “So, I’m like, ‘Sergio, this might be really bad. We’re in the guy’s country. He’s a legend in this country. I mean, I don’t know how he’s going react.'”
Before Gor headed over, Rubio said he made one last attempt to talk him out of it.
“‘OK, whatever you do, don’t mention me,'” he told him. “‘He doesn’t even know who I am. And if he knows who I am, it isn’t because he likes me.'”
Despite the warning, Gor went ahead, and brought Rubio into the conversation.
As Rubio listened from his table, he heard Gor say, “Marco Rubio would love to meet you. He’s sitting right over there.”
To Rubio’s surprise, the exchange went smoothly.
“He couldn’t have been nicer,” he said of Jagger.
Rubio said Gor’s decision to walk up to Jagger reflected the kind of confidence that would serve him well in diplomacy.
Gor, confirmed this year as ambassador to India, has long worked in Republican politics, including stints at the Republican National Committee and in Congress.
He later led a publishing and political organization linked to the Trump family before joining the administration.
Jagger, however, has been openly critical of Trump’s presidency.
After Trump used the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” at 2016 campaign rallies, the band issued a statement in a since-deleted tweet cited by Billboard, “The Rolling Stones do not endorse Donald Trump.”
In 2019, Jagger also called out Trump’s environmental policies while promoting a film at the Venice Film Festival.
“We’re in a very difficult situation at the moment,” he said, according to Variety. “Especially in the U.S. where all the environmental controls that were put in place… are being rolled back by the current administration.
“So much so that they are all being wiped out.”
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