After musicians drop out of Freedom 250, Trump floats rally featuring him

+ Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Planet Money Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics After musicians drop out of Freedom 250, Trump floats rally featuring him Over the weekend, President Trump suggested an event celebrating America's 250th birthday should instead be a rally with him as the headliner after many of the artists slated to perform dropped out. Politics After musicians drop out of Freedom 250, Trump floats rally featuring him June 1, 20264:47 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition By Mandalit del Barco , A Martínez After musicians drop out of Freedom 250, Trump floats rally featuring him Listen &middot; 3:26 3:26 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5841893/nx-s1-9792248" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Over the weekend, President Trump suggested an event celebrating America's 250th birthday should instead be a rally with him as the headliner after many of the artists slated to perform dropped out. Sponsor Message A MARTÍNEZ, HOST: President Trump had plans for a concert this summer on the National Mall in D.C. to celebrate the country's 250th anniversary. More than half of the musical artists who were listed on the program now will not perform. NPR's culture correspondent Mandalit del Barco joins us to discuss. So, Mandalit, who was originally on this lineup?

+ MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: Yeah. So the organizers said the Great American State Fair, as they called it, would be a celebration of patriotism. They announced nine musical acts, including the 1990s rapper Vanilla Ice. He said he's down for the concert, but he doesn't take the politics of it too seriously. Here's what he told TMZ. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) VANILLA ICE: And I don't even vote, so I don't even care. I'll go play for Putin, and I'll play in Iran if you want. It don't matter. It's just music. What's the big deal, man? We're just entertainers. DEL BARCO: But to fans, it apparently is a big deal, and artists started getting criticism because the event is backed by President Trump. Hip-hop artist Young MC, who you may remember for his 1989 hit "Bust A Move" - he announced he would not perform, saying artists were never told about any political involvement with the event. Country singer Martina McBride posted on X that she had been presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event, but that turned out to be misleading. Also canceling the gig was one of the original lip-synchers of Milli Vanilli and the remnants of the funk-soul group the Commodores. Also, the band called Morris Day and the Time, minus the original Morris Day. MARTÍNEZ: So are there any other examples of artists busting a move and canceling on an event promoted by the White House? DEL BARCO: Yeah. There was backlash after Trump was named chairman of the board of the Kennedy Center. Artists began canceling their performances, including composer Phillip Glass, soprano Renee Fleming, the San Francisco Ballet and the musical "Hamilton." They bowed out of performing at the Kennedy Center, or, as the new board renamed it, the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. Just last Friday, a federal judge ordered that Trump's name be removed from the building and blocked his planned renovation of the center. That prompted the president to announce he was canceling his involvement with the Kennedy Center. The White House said it would appeal the judge's ruling. MARTÍNEZ: President Trump posted about the Freedom 250 cancellations this weekend. What'd he have to say? DEL BARCO: Trump posted on Truth Social, quote, "I understand artists are getting the yips having to do with their performance." He added that he should replace those he called, quote, "highly paid, third-rate artists" "who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring." Over the weekend, the concert's organizers, Freedom 250, announced that the president, who they called the visionary of the event, will headline the opening ceremony on Wednesday, June 24. Trump says it will be a Make America Great Again rally. MARTÍNEZ: So what has Trump said about becoming the new headliner? DEL BARCO: Well, on Truth Social, Trump called himself the, quote, "no.1 attraction anywhere in the world" and, quote, "the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime." Well, A, I did some research. And I found that Elvis Presley's largest concert, Aloha From Hawaii in 1973, had an estimated global TV audience of more than a billion viewers. That's the concert where Elvis famously wears a white bell-bottomed jumpsuit decorated with rhinestone American bald eagles. MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Mandalit del Barco. Mandalit (impersonating Elvis Presley), thank you very much. DEL BARCO: Thank you (laughter). Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{1169:function(e,n,c){e.exports=c(321)},321:function(e,n,c){"use strict";c.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([c.e(1),c.e(2),c.e(3),c.e(4),c.e(82)]).then(function(e){c(3),c(1141),c(116),c(95),c(52),c(491),c(240),c(102),c(104),c(1142),c(144),c(1143),c(239),c(48),c(1144)}.bind(null,c)).catch(c.oe)}},[[1169,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();