After major acts backed out of concerts tied to President Donald Trump’s Freedom 250 celebration, Trump said he was considering scrapping the musical performances and giving a speech himself instead. Country star Martina McBride and The Commodores said they in
The music started to unravel before the stage was even built.
In recent days, prominent artists scheduled to perform at a Freedom 250 event have pulled out, and President Donald Trump now says he is considering canceling the concert segment altogether and replacing it with a rally and his own speech.
In a social media post dated Saturday, May 30, Trump criticized the musicians, whom he did not name, for what he called “the yips.” He appeared to be pointing to the collapsing lineup of musical superstars for the Great American State Fair, a 16-day event organized by Trump’s nonprofit Freedom 250.
Country star Martina McBride was among the latest to bow out. The Commodores, an R&B group, also announced they were canceling their appearance. Both said they were initially under the impression the event would be entirely nonpartisan.
“That turned out to be misleading,” McBride said in a statement.
The Great American State Fair is scheduled to run June 25 through July 10 on the National Mall in Washington, DC. McBride and The Commodores’ exits came as musicians continued to withdraw from the lineup amid growing concern over whether the series was truly nonpolitical.
As the cancellations mounted, Trump said he was thinking about organizing what he called an “AMERICA IS BACK Rally.” In the same post, he wrote: “I don’t want so-called ‘Artists’ that get paid far too much money, who aren’t happy.”
It wasn’t clear from Trump’s remarks when exactly the rally would be held, or whether other musicians would still perform during the Great American State Fair window. Freedom 250 did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on Trump’s post.
The sequence on its own is stark: as artists leave a lineup they believed would stay nonpartisan, Trump frames their departures as a personal problem—while signaling he may swap out performances for a speech-shaped alternative on the National Mall.
Freedom 250 Great American State Fair Donald Trump Martina McBride The Commodores National Mall concert lineup nonpartisan America is Back Rally