If you were heading to the Great American State Fair beginning in June to catch some of the musical guests initially involved (and, likely, you were one of the few thinking of making the trek to Washington, DC, exactly for that), you probably have since changed your plans. Those acts are far fewer now.
Several, including Poison's Bret Michaels, country queen Martina McBride, the Commodores, Young MC, Morris Day and the Time, and Milli Vanilli, have pulled out of the event, mostly claiming they were "misled" by what the event was supposed to be about. They were told it would be non-partisan, but that was always unlikely.
The National Mall-held "fair" was sold as being a celebration of America's 250th birthday, not a celebration of Donald Trump. The issue was that Trump's administration was in charge of the event, so the political leanings of what would happen were really never in doubt.
Musical guests withdrawing from the Great American State Fair won't be replaced by other musicians
To further prove that point, and making a move that most could see coming after so many musical guests decided not to come to DC, Trump will now be the "headliner" of Freedom 250 that runs from June 25 through July 10.
Posting on his Truth Social, and as reported by the Associated Press, Trump wrote, "I understand Artists are getting ‘the yips’ having to do with their performance. 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.’...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..."
"Yips" is likely not the right word for what the music performers are doing. That would imply they aren't able to be successful at something they hope to accomplish because of something they seem unable to control. The musicians who have withdrawn from Freedom 250 have done so because they can control their personal situation.
Oddly, Vanilla Ice is still expected to attend, even though he told TMZ that he doesn't vote. He added, "And I’ll go play for (Russian president Vladimir) Putin, and I’ll play in Iran if you want. It don’t matter. There’s fans everywhere. Music is not political, man. It’s universal."
This all brings to light several questions. For instance, one might safely presume that a two-week event is being put on to honor the United States (at least, in theory), but why ask an artist to represent the country if they don't vote and are there simply for the "fans?"
Vanilla Ice has every right to his views, of course, and he might simply be performing to play for his fans, while also getting some attention for himself. For him, this might be a win-win.
From Donald Trump's viewpoint of those musical artists who have said they won't be playing, his stance that those performers are "third-rate artists" is strange. It was the people he put in charge of the event who initially asked those musical guests to play.
Still, the outcome of those withdrawing was also obvious. Instead of asking other acts to play, it will be Trump who takes their place.
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