Rock legend Bono put the spotlight on GOP presidential Rick Santorum on Wednesday during U2’s concert in New York City, praising the usually buttoned-up social conservative for his help fighting AIDS in Africa.
Santorum attended a U2 concert in New York City with his daughter Sarah Maria.
“Guess I need to work on my attitude,” Santorum tweeted with the photo of him smiling in a suit and tie beside a leather jacket-clad Bono.
During the concert, Bono highlighted Santorum’s support for providing antiviral pills to those fighting AIDS in Africa.
“Rick Santorum is in the house! (Congresswoman) Nita Lowey is in the house! And that’s why America is leading in the war against HIV,” he said in a clip Santorum retweeted.
Santorum has attracted his fair share of support from musicians — he was endorsed by both crooner Pat Boone and Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine in 2012.
Bono co-founded ONE, an international organization focused on working with political leaders to combat AIDS and preventable diseases.
The D.C.-based nonprofit previously posted a statement from Santorum discussing the need to make antiviral drugs available to Africans.
“Almost 5,000 people die every day due to AIDS and there are about 7,000 new HIV infections a day,” Santorum said in a statement. “Thankfully, there is reason to hope that in our lifetime, we may see the end of AIDS. Let’s turn our resolve into action.”
Santorum and Bono have worked together in the past as the former Senator has previously sponsored bills addressing the global fight against AIDS.
Bono has previously come to the defense of Santorum, who this week said he absolutely regretted, comparing homosexuality to bestiality.
“I would suggest that Rick Santorum has a kind of Tourette’s disease; he always says the most unpopular thing. But on our issues, he has been the defender of the most vulnerable,” Bono told Philadelphia magazine.