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.
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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). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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