President Donald Trump called for organizers of Freedom 250’s Great American State Fair concerts to “cancel” upcoming concerts due to artists dropping out.
“I am thinking about bringing the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime, and he does so without a guitar, the man who loves our Country more than anyone else, and the man who some say is the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate ‘Artists,’ and give a major speech, rallying the Country forward like I have done ever since being President,” Trump, 79, wrote via TruthSocial on Saturday, May 30.
Martina McBride, Bret Michaels, Young MC and Morris Day and the Time have all pulled out of scheduled shows at the 16-day festival in Washington D.C. celebrating America’s 250th birthday over organizer Freedom 250’s connections to the Trump administration.
Freedom 250 describes its events as “nonpartisan,” though its website mentions the White House and the Department of War among its “founding government members.” Freedom 250 also publicly counts multiple corporations with ties to Trump — including Palantir, UFC and Oracle — as sponsors.
“I would like to talk to you and clear the air. I will not be performing at the Great American State Fair on June 25. I was presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading,” McBride, 59, announced via Instagram on Thursday, May 28.
Michaels, 63, alleged that he’d received threats over his involvement in Freedom 250 before deciding to cancel his show.
“Unfortunately, what was presented to us as a celebration of our country has evolved into something much more divisive than what I agreed to be a part of,” Michaels said in a statement via his website. “Concerns have also been raised regarding the safety of my fans, band, crew, family and myself, including threats that are completely unfounded and unforgivable. Because of that, I have made the difficult decision to step away from this performance.”
In the wake of multiple artist cancellations, Trump compared the Freedom 250 controversy to his troubled attempt to renovate and rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
A judge ruled on Friday, May 29, that Trump’s name should be removed from the Kennedy Center’s marquee, in addition to temporarily blocking a planned two-year closure for renovations. (The president later threatened to “transfer this failing Institution back” to the “Radical Left Democrats” to force them to take ownership of renovation costs and planning.)
“We should have a giant MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for 250, instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain,” Trump suggested. “Cancel it, just like I canceled my involvement with the failing and unsafe to be in Kennedy Center … The Kennedy Center is broken, unsafe, and $busted, and has been for many years!”
Prior to Trump’s statement, Freedom 250 spokesperson Julia Friedland addressed whether the festivities were truly nonpartisan during an appearance on DC News Now’s Sunrise on the Hill on Friday, May 29.
“I don’t think there’s anything partisan about America being around for 250 years … We have a history, obviously, but we have a president that wants to celebrate 250 years of America,” she insisted. “And that’s exactly what we’re doing. And that’s how it was sold to performers. We’ll have military bands, military ensembles as well. We will have representatives from every state and territory in the United States to come and represent their culture, what makes their state and territory unique.”
“So it sold the same way to everyone that we’re celebrating America’s 250th birthday,” she added. “We’ll have military bands, orchestras, talented performers. We will be announcing more in the coming weeks and days, and we will have something for everyone there.”
Asked whether artists were told about the White House’s involvement when they signed on, Friedland said, “I can’t speak to negotiations that were made for performers. But what I can say is we’re selling it the same way to every single person in this country. This is a celebration of America, 250 years, glorious years. It’s inherently nonpolitical.”
Not every concert booked for the Freedom 250 concerts has been cancelled, as headliners Vanilla Ice and Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli have both promoted their involvement via social media amid the backlash.
“Happy birthday America 250 years. It’s gonna be an epic party,” Vanilla Ice, 58, wrote via Instagram on Thursday, May 28. “This is to bring us all together. I’m tired of all the news channels dividing this country. We are all one.”
