{"id":700032,"date":"2026-05-28T20:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/700032\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T20:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:15:11","slug":"artists-bail-on-d-c-bash-for-americas-250th-birthday-after-being-listed-on-the-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/700032\/","title":{"rendered":"Artists bail on D.C. bash for America\u2019s 250th birthday after being listed on the lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two musical artists listed as performers at an upcoming event on the National Mall in D.C. to celebrate America\u2019s 250th anniversary are saying they won\u2019t be attending despite being listed on the lineup.<\/p>\n

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Freedom 250, a public-private partnership backed by President Donald Trump, announced a list of performers on Wednesday, but shortly after, Morris Day and The Time and Young MC announced that they would not be making appearances.<\/p>\n

\u201cContrary To Rumor, Morris Day & The Time Will Not Be Performing At The \u2018GREAT AMERICAN STATE FAIR,\u2019\u201d said a graphic posted by the artist <\/a>on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s A No For Me,\u201d the post added.<\/p>\n

\"MorrisMorris Day performs in 2025.Michael Tullberg \/ Getty Images file<\/p>\n

Young MC also said in a social media post<\/a> that he told his agents he would not perform at the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe artists were never told about any political involvement with the event,\u201d the rapper wrote. <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI hope to perform in D.C. in the near future at an event that is not so politically charged,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Reached for comment, Freedom 250 spokesperson Rachel Reisner said that the group is a nonpartisan nonprofit \u201cdedicated to uniting Americans around the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom 250 is focused on our signature celebrations and events that honor our history and engage all Americans \u2014 welcoming all who share our goal of commemorating this milestone in a way that uplifts and unites America,\u201d Reisner added.<\/p>\n

NBC News has reached out to other artists listed on the lineup for comment.<\/p>\n

The announcements by the artists came shortly after the Freedom 250 announced the \u201cfirst wave\u201d of participants, including hip-hop acts Vanilla Ice and Flo Rida, country star Martina McBride, funk and soul group The Commodores, dance-pop act C+C Music Factory, and Bret Michaels, the frontman for the glam metal band Poison.<\/p>\n

Freedom 250 announced that the artists would participate in the \u201cGreat American State Fair,\u201d which will run from June 25 through July 10 on the National Mall. <\/p>\n

The festivities will include showcases from states and territories, a 110-foot Ferris wheel, \u201cCEO and innovator-led conversations and demonstrations,\u201d special screenings of \u201cNational Treasure\u201d and its sequel, \u201cNational Treasure: Book of Secrets,\u201d the organizers said.<\/p>\n

Trump has also created a task force to spearhead an administration-wide effort to prepare for the anniversary events. The White House said those will include an Indycar street race around the National Mall and an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight at the White House. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two musical artists listed as performers at an upcoming event on the National Mall in D.C. to celebrate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":["post-700032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}