Unlike many musicians who opted not to play at Freedom 250 due to being, as many said, misled about the political leanings of the event, Sammy Hagar was quite fine with it. He never got a chance to perform, though. Even the rain and heat didn't want there to be any music.
Fans had already learned of the former Van Halen frontman's surprise scheduled appearance, though. He was set to play on July 4, except that the weather got in the way. If not for that. Hagar would have done a set of songs along with other scheduled musicians, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Gretchen Wilson.
From those last two musicians, fans expect them not to be afraid to show their political inclinations. For Hagar, many of his fans were disappointed and expressed as much on social media. The singer felt the heat and responded the same way.
Sammy Hagar's scheduled appearance at Freedom 250 leaves fans divided
His reasoning was, and this is meant in the most literal sense, ignorant. Hagar didn't appear to know that Freedom 250 was inherently bent on being pro-Donald Trump. It was his administration that had put the event together, after all.
(This article isn't meant to be on the side of Trump or not; the issue lies with Hagar and his seeming unawareness of what the event was truly about. Ultimately, it became a venue for the president to hold a rally and speech.)
Writing on Instagram after the backlash from fans upset he was going to play Freedom 250, the Red Rocker wrote, "This is not a political thing! This is the celebration of our country’s birthday no matter who the president is at this time — this is our 250th birthday as a country. We’ve been up! And we’ve been down! And may always continue and survive. I hope that happens another 250 years. The hate the violence the prejudice hopefully will not survive. One nation under God! Hang in there all you doubters. We've come a long way. We have a long way to go."
For those who want to check out what fans thought about his participation in the Trump-led event, one can click on the same IG post and see how fans responded, both negatively and positively. Let's just say his followers were extremely divided.
As one pointed out, Sammy Hagar appeared to be "tone deaf" about why people would be upset about his showing in Washington, DC. Politics, by their very nature, are divisive, and Freedom 250 could never simply have been an ode to America turning 250. Politics doesn't allow for such an easy thing, at least in how many interpret the situation.
The most frustrating part is that while Hagar might have meant well, he was so clueless about what his participation would have meant to many, and he didn't seem to fathom why. Maybe someone should have explained the situation to him better beforehand.
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