Kash Patel‘s country singer girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, is speaking out on the backlash over her performance at President Donald Trump‘s Great American State Fair.
“Let’s just get a few things straight, because this is long overdue,” Wilkins, 27, wrote via X on Wednesday, June 24. “I have been a country music artist for years now. I have had a successful career in both music and commentary/strategy. People don’t get to negate that for clicks or headlines.”
Wilkins, who has been dating Patel, 46, since 2023, noted she was “invited to sing this anthem on my own accord,” the same way she has been with “many other places throughout my career.” She also denied that she was “accepting payment for this great honor.”
“The Freedom250 entire celebration is on a fundraising arm; neither UFC nor any National Mall celebrations are ‘taxpayer funded,’” Wilkins continued. “I’m no longer accepting false narratives and total sham accusations that diminish my hard work and earned accomplishments, so please expect this kind of response to continue.”
Wilkins originally announced on Tuesday, June 23, that she would be a featured performer at a celebration of America’s 250th birthday. As she helped kick off the event on Wednesday, singing the national anthem alongside the president’s United States Marine Band, some critics questioned whether Wilkins’ participation violated federal ethics laws amid her romance with the FBI director.
Before Wilkins took the stage at the 16-day festival, Martina McBride, Young MC, C+C Music Factory, Bret Michaels, The Commodores, Morris Day & The Time and Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan were all set to make appearances but eventually dropped out due to Trump’s involvement in the event.
“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, 63, wrote in an Instagram statement earlier this month. “Concerns have also been raised regarding the safety of my fans, band, crew, family and myself, including threats that are completely unfounded and unforgivable.
Morvan, 60, also spoke out about his decision to no longer join the festival.
“I’m here to, you know, to bring people together with music,” the musician told CNN in June. “I’m not into politics, so you hear it first here: I’m not attending.”
At the time, Morvan explained how he was approached to do the show.
“My team in Europe received the dates, we looked at the date, OK, The Great American State Fair. And the cherry on top was 250 years anniversary of America,” he recalled. “I’ve learned a lot of lessons in America, hard lessons that I never forgot to this day: the difference between working hard and working harder, thinking big, thinking bigger, resilience, believe in yourself. So for me, I felt like it was a special moment, you know, a full circle moment.”
Morvan was “excited” but got “worried” after learning Young MC dropped out.
“I was like, ‘Oh, that’s weird. Why is he pulling out? Because does he know anything that I don’t know? What does he know that I don’t know?’” he recalled. “And then, one after the next, people started to leave. But I was told by my team, who was told by another team: ‘There’s nothing, there’s no political entanglement, there’s no political alignment. It’s just a free show for the people.’ I was there to unite the people, to bring people together, to have them walk down memory lane, celebrate life. Some people that were there, that would be there, were there when my music came out, so it was a way to say, ‘Hey, I’m still here, you’re still here. Let’s have a good time together.’ That’s what it was for me.”
