Imagine the National Mall in Washington, D.C., transformed into a festive celebration, complete with a Ferris wheel and live musical performers from across the country. That's the idea behind The Great American State Fair. It is slated to begin next month as part of a series of events under the Freedom 250 banner.
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However, it's the live music aspect of this patriotic celebration that seems to be the problem. Several artists are reversing course and withdrawing from the event. They have stated they had no idea it was tied to the Trump Administration.
Who Is Scheduled to Perform at The Great American State Fair?
Yesterday, May 27, nine performers were announced as the featured performers at The Great American State Fair. The event is scheduled between June 25 and July 10.
Martina McBride, The Commodores, Bret Michaels, and Flo Rida are currently scheduled to appear. They will be joined by Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli (now Fab Morvan as a solo performer).
But Variety reports the other three scheduled performers have announced they are backing out of the event.
Who Is Backing Out of The Great American State Fair?
Freedom 250 is labeled as non-partisan organization. However, it was the Trump Administration that founded the organization to launch events celebrating the nation's 250th birthday.
Yesterday, both Young MC and Morris Day issued statements that they would no longer be involved with The Great American State Fair.
Young MC, known for the rap hit "Bust A Move," shared on social media that "artists were never told about any political involvement with the event. And despite the claims by the organizers that the event is non-partisan, Spin magazine describes it as 'Trump-backed.'"
Day was a little more succinct, suggesting on social media that he and the Time may have never been officially booked.
"Contrary to rumors," he wrote, "Morris Day & the Time will not be performing at the 'Great American State Fair.'"
Freedom Williams of C+C Music Factory shared a profanity-laced video that cast doubt on his participation in the event.
According to the clip, when he learned about Trump's involvement, Williams went back to his agent and said, "'You didn't say nothing about Trump. You didn't mention Trump.' ... So I told my agent, 'Yeah, no, I ain't gonna be able to do that.'"
But in a twist, he shared that he wouldn't let any "motherf*****s" tell him what to do, adding, "You can't cancel me, p***y, because you don't exist."
He then ended the video with the middle finger and the statement, "I might do the motherf*****g show."
If this incident seems like deja vu, that's because a similar incident occurred after several artists pulled out of the South Carolina stop of Kid Rock's Rock the Country tour.
Shinedown joined Carter Faith, Creed, Morgan Wade, and Ludacris in withdrawing from the event. This led to the cancellation of the South Carolina date, which was scheduled for July 25-26.
