Artists are bailing on a Trump-backed concert for America’s 250th

By T.M. Brown, CNN

(CNN) — What if there was a concert celebrating America’s 250th anniversary and none of the artists showed up?

That’s one of the possibilities that Freedom 250, a public-private partnership created by the Trump administration, is facing after the majority of the artists it booked to perform at a marquee concert series dropped out this week. The Commodores, Martina McBride, Morris Day & the Time, Poison frontman Bret Michaels, and rapper Young MC have all publicly distanced themselves from the string of performances scheduled to take place on the National Mall in Washington, DC, from June 25 through July 10 as part of the Great American State Fair.

“I was presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading,” McBride, the country star, wrote in an Instagram post on Thursday announcing her decision not to perform.

Freedom 250 is a White House organization launched by executive order to create Trump-driven alternatives to the events planned by the nonpartisan United States Semiquincentennial Commission, America250. The announced concert lineup was heavily tilted towards legacy acts like Morris Day and Vanilla Ice, and many of them share the same booking agent in Jeff Epstein of Universal Attractions. Epstein did not respond to repeat requests for comment.

All of the artists who have pulled out suggested they were misled about the event’s political associations. “The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event,” Young MC said in a statement on Instagram. The rapper told Rolling Stone that the concert was a “bait-and-switch.”

Bret Michaels, who won “The Celebrity Apprentice” in 2010 and who has been complimentary of President Donald Trump in the past, cited a similar issue. “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,” he wrote in a statement on Instagram on Friday. He also said that he and his crew have received threats due to his potential participation in the event.

Not everyone has dropped out though. The “Ice Ice Baby” rapper Vanilla Ice, a vocal Trump supporter who has performed at Mar-a-Lago several times, said “I’m super honored to do this concert” in a TikTok video. “We don’t take anything too serious, man.” The rapper Flo Rida, of the blockbuster late aughts dance hit “Low,” has not made a statement about whether he will still perform.

The infamous pop duo Milli Vanilli, also announced as part of the lineup, is in a somewhat strange position. The group won a best new artist Grammy in 1990 before it was revealed that frontmen Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus had not sung on the recordings credited to them. Jodie Rocco, one of the artists who provided the real vocals for the group and who performs with other singers from the sessions under the name “The Real Milli Vanilli,” told the AP that she was “shocked” that Milli Vanilli was a listed act. Pilatus died in 1998. Morvan, however, is still expected to perform at the Great American State Fair — with his own voice.

Freedom Williams, a rapper from the group C&C Music Factory, said in an Instagram reel filmed from an odd angle — one commenter said Williams looked like he was sitting on the toilet — that he “doesn’t f**k with Trump.” But he said he was more irritated by people who were attempting to “cancel” him over his performance, indicating that he’s planning to go through with it. “The day I let you motherf**kers tell me what to do is the day I die.”

Williams left the original group in the early 1990s but acquired the trademark for C&C Music Factory in 2005. Robert Clivillés — one of the “C’s” and a co-founder of the group — said Williams was “disguising himself as C&C Music Factory” and that Clivillés “was neither involved in, consulted regarding, nor have I endorsed the event.”

CNN reached out to representatives for all of the artists who were slated to perform. Many declined to comment or didn’t respond. Young MC reiterated that Freedom 250 had touted itself as a nonpartisan organization when he originally agreed to perform, and that he didn’t find out about its affiliation with the Trump administration until later.

Rachel Reisner, a spokesperson for Freedom 250, said the organization “remains fully committed to delivering a once-in-a-lifetime experience that brings every corner of this country together on the National Mall.”

“We respect the rights of any artist to make their own decisions, and our doors remain open to any performer who wants to be part of honoring 250 years of American freedom, culture, and unity,” Reisner said in a statement. “There is far too much to celebrate about this great nation to let noise and division distract from the incredible moment ahead.”

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