US President Donald Trump has announced he will headline the nation's 250th anniversary next month after several musical performers cancelled, citing concerns about its association with him.
The concerts were planned as the opening ceremony of the Great American State Fair, a 16-day event running from June 25 to July 10, 2026. The fair, organised by the Freedom 250 group, would stretch from the US Capitol to the Washington Monument, featuring concert stages, state pavilions, exhibits, rides, and other attractions. However, the musical lineup has been hit by a series of cancellations.
On Friday, Poison's lead singer Bret Michaels became the fifth performer to withdraw from the concerts, stating that the event was not the nonpartisan celebration he thought it would be. Alongside Michaels, Martina McBride, Young MC, Morris Day and The Time, and The Commodores all pulled out, alleging they were misled about what the event would entail.
President Trump is now scheduled to "personally kick off this historic celebration," Freedom 250 posted on social media. Organisers have not publicly detailed the reasons for the departures, though the exits have raised questions about the viability of the event as originally envisioned.
In a post on Truth Social earlier on Saturday, President Trump suggested the concert series may no longer be necessary if performers continue to back out. The President floated the possibility of giving a speech on the National Mall instead, portraying himself as a more powerful draw than any musical act. "The fact is that I am, according to many, the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World," President Trump wrote. He added that he gets "much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime" and "does so without a guitar". The President said he was "ordering my Representatives to look at the feasibility of doing an AMERICA IS BACK Rally".
Freedom 250 is a public-private partnership created by the White House to coordinate celebrations of the United States' 250th anniversary alongside federal agencies.
