After a slew of artists dropped out of the Freedom 250 concert series upon learning about organizers’ ties to Donald Trump, the president announced on Thursday that he would be replacing the shows with a rally headlined by none other than … himself.
His announcement comes after he urged for the concerts’ cancellation and pitched that he himself perform following the sudden exits of artists. The rally will still include music, however, and feature Eighties country singer Lee Greenwood, who wrote the patriotic hit “God Bless the U.S.A.”
Taking to Truth Social on Thursday, Trump declared that the “the Greatest Rally, EVER” would take place on June 24 in Washington, D.C. Perhaps still sour from the Freedom 250 fiasco, he insisted that he didn’t “want singers with no talent, but big fees to put you to sleep” anyway, and that “All we want is you, me, a few speakers, and the Greatest Music ever played.” He added that opera singer Christopher Macchio would be added to the bill to sing “Nessun Dorma” and other crowd pleasers.
Late last month, organizers for the Freedom 250 concert — helmed by Keith Krach, a Trump appointee — announced their strange lineup for the event, which included the likes of Martina McBride, Flo Rida and the Commodores alongside Nineties acts like Milli Vanilli and Vanilla Ice.
Soon, after the lineup announcement, many of the booked acts — including Morris Day and the Time and Young MC — stated they would not partake in the Freedom 250 concert. “It’s a no for me,” Day wrote on social media.
Young MC told VIBE at the time, “I had no clue it was considered a ‘Trump-backed’ event, so that was new to me. My whole thing was ‘tell me what the event is, what it’s about, who you are, and then give me the choice of whether I want to do the event or not.’ I was never given that choice. I was told one thing, and then it was a bait-and-switch. All the comments I’ve seen from the artists that have dropped out thought it was supposed to be a regular show in D.C.”
By the end of the week, McBride, Bret Michaels, and the Commodores had also exited the concert series, which was scheduled to run from June 25 to July 10 at the National Mall.
Despite the debacle, Trump appears to be feverishly promoting the rally anyway. In his Truth Social post Thursday, he crowed, “The Rally will also be featuring the wonderful U.S. Army Band ‘Pershing’s Own’ and Armed Forces Choir, and ‘The President’s Own’ Unites States Marine Band, with the Joint Armed Forces Chorus, all of your favorite Hits, PLUS a fine and highly dignified gentleman known as, President DONALD J. TRUMP!”
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