PENSACOLA, Fla. — Republican Congressman Jimmy Patronis has ordered the Florida Highway Patrol to establish a permanent checkpoint on Interstate 10 at the Alabama state line, tasked with turning back any vehicle bearing the Jelly Roll tour logo, following the singer’s remarks about President Trump during a guest-hosting stint on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
“Jelly Roll is 100 percent not welcomed to Florida’s Panhandle,” Patronis told reporters at a hastily arranged press conference beside a patrol cruiser. “I don’t even want to see his bus on I-10. We’ve got troopers stationed every mile from the state line to the Okaloosa County line, and they’ve been instructed to wave him down, read him the state’s anti-loitering statutes, and escort him back to Alabama.”
The checkpoint, staffed by 38 troopers working 12-hour shifts, has already turned back three tour buses, two catering trucks, and a mobile merchandise trailer that bore no connection to the singer, after officers determined the vehicles “looked like they might be carrying his people.” Patronis said the operation would remain in place indefinitely, with troopers instructed to question any driver wearing a cowboy hat and sunglasses.
“We’re not taking any chances,” Patronis said. “If a bus so much as has a guitar case in the luggage bay, it’s getting a full inspection. We’ve got a list of his known tour stops, and we’re coordinating with county sheriffs to make sure no venue within 50 miles of the beach books him.”
The congressman also announced plans to rename a stretch of U.S. Highway 98 the “No Jelly Roll Memorial Highway,” pending approval from the state legislature. “This is about protecting our way of life,” he said. “We don’t need that kind of talk down here.”