{"id":675796,"date":"2026-05-31T10:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T10:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/675796\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T10:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T10:05:13","slug":"bret-michaels-drops-out-of-freedom-250-concerts-citing-safety-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/675796\/","title":{"rendered":"Bret Michaels drops out of Freedom 250 concerts, citing “safety concerns”"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than half of the artists originally announced for the Trump White House\u2019s \u201cGreat American State Fair\u201d concerts in Washington D.C. over the next few weeks have now dropped out,\u00a0Variety\u00a0reports<\/a>, as former Poison singer\/official\u00a0Celebrity Apprentice Bret Michaels has just joined the growing host of dropouts<\/a>. Michaels broke the news in a long post on Instagram this weekend<\/a>, including claims that he\u2019s worried about unspecified \u201cthreats\u201d and \u201csafety concerns\u201d about the show.<\/p>\n

In many respects, Michaels\u2019 post lines up with those of artists like Young MC, Martina McBride, and Morris Day, all of whom suggested, in one way or another, that they had no idea they were walking into a political minefield when they agreed to the shows, organized by the White House\u2019s Freedom 250 task force to celebrate America\u2019s upcoming 250th birthday. \u201cUnfortunately, what was presented to us as a celebration of our country has evolved into something much more divisive than what I agreed to be a part of,\u201d Michaels wrote. But then he gets into the more nebulous stuff, stating that, \u201cConcerns have also been raised regarding the safety of my fans, band, crew, family and myself, including threats that are completely unfounded and unforgivable. Because of that, I have made the difficult decision to step away from this performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michaels didn\u2019t go into detail about the \u201cthreats and safety concerns\u201d in question, simply stating that he hoped to return to Washington D.C. \u201cunder circumstances where the focus can remain on where it should be\u2014the music and the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump himself, meanwhile, seems to be getting just a tad frustrated that artists are bailing on him quite so quickly: He posted on Truth Social\u2014your one-stop shop for public statements of policy from the American executive and also like 8,000 ads for sciatica pain\u2014in order to admit that some artists are getting \u201cthe yips\u201d about performing in the shows, going so far as to suggest that he might just turn the whole thing into a big rally speech, instead. Which will presumably be a big bummer for Vanilla Ice, who gave a stirring defense of not giving a fuck about whohe plays for in a\u00a0TMZ\u00a0interview on Friday<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t even vote, so I don\u2019t even care,\u201d Ice said, noting with the happy indifference of a man whose mind remains trapped in 1992 even as his body careens haphazardly through the 2020s, that he\u2019d be just as happy to play for Joe Biden, or, uh, other fans: \u201cI\u2019d go play. It\u2019s not a big thing. You play for your fans. You know, we don\u2019t get a chance to pick our fans. They pick us. And I\u2019ll go play for Putin and I\u2019ll play in Iran if you want. It don\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n