Country star Martina McBride has become the latest performer to back out of the upcoming “Freedom 250” concerts on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., posting on her social accounts Thursday night that she was dropping out of her planned show after learning that it carried far more political baggage than she’d realized.
McBride is one of four artists who’ve dropped out of the concert series in the less than two days since it was announced, the others being Morris Day and Young MC, who announced their exits on Wednesday, and the Commodores, who publicly pulled out Thursday afternoon. (A fifth artist, C&C Music Factory frontman Freedom Williams, said Wednesday he was wavering between whether to drop out or fulfill the gig.)
Although the language on the Freedom 250 website says all of the patriotic events planned for D.C. are nonpartisan, artists announced as participating in the concerts have been hit with a wave of backlash from fans who believe the shows will be partisan, if not MAGA-leaning, due to being produced by an organization founded by Donald J. Trump.
“I would like to talk to you and clear the air,” McBride wrote in her post. “I will not be performing at the Great American State Fair on June 25th. I was presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading. I asked lots of questions and was assured that this was a nonpartisan event that was meant to celebrate ALL 50 states. In my mind I thought this was a great way to celebrate the states and also bring people together in the way that only music can. I saw it as just a bigger version of so many state fairs I have performed at over the years, celebrating community and what makes each state special. Sounds fun, right? Wholesome, even. Yesterday, things started changing and what we were told is, in fact, not what is happening.”
McBride continued, “I’ve spent my entire career singing songs about real people with real voices. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to be a voice for those who have felt like they didn’t have one. It greatly upsets me that any fan who has been moved by my music may now feel like I’m abandoning the meaning behind those songs. I assure you, that is not the case. I appreciate every single fan who has reached out. I hope to get back to the D.C. area very soon.”
She did not elaborate on exactly what she had learned that caused her to withdraw.
On her Instagram page, there were immediate reactions from some fellow artists, some of them consisting of a single supportive word. “Amen,” wrote Ashley McBryde. “WHEW,” responded Jason Isbell.
Wrote Sheryl Crow: “Martina, you are a beautiful artist, mother, citizen, American. You have always been exactly as you are in this moment… authentic and real. So moved by you and proud to know you.”
With McBride being the fourth to exit, the list of artists participating has seriously dwindled. The only one so far to have a representative state that they definitely plan to proceed with their show is Vanilla Ice, whose manager told Rolling Stone in a statement, “Vanilla Ice is contracted and will perform at the Great American Fair at the National Mall on Friday, June 26. He is proud to help celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary! Everyone is welcome to attend and celebrate USA’s Birthday and our Freedom!”
Variety has not been able to reach representatives of Freedom 250 for comment about the dropouts.
With four artists having announced their exits, those remaining on the bill, besides the enthusiastic Vanilla Ice and the wavering C&C Music Factory, are Flo Rida and Poison’s Bret Michaels, neither of whom has spoken up as of this writing.
McBride might have seemed like one of the least likely artists to drop out, given that much of the country fan base is conservative and would lean in favor of any singer supporting a Trump initiative. Indeed, some of the initial comments on McBride’s socials indicates she has disappointed or upset some of her Trump-supporting fans. However, a country artist doing a gig that is seen as supportive of the president is hardly without danger, as Carrie Underwood has found out from negative comments she continues to get online for having sung at the president’s second inauguration, which she insisted was nonpartisan.
In particular, some commenters who identified as McBride fans were upset that one of her most popular songs, “Independence Day,” a song about a battered wife, might be used as a patriotic anthem in the service of an administration they believe has not focused on supporting women.
“I was hoping and praying that you wouldn’t perform,” wrote user Marcie Keen in the comments, “but being from the south I just assumed you would. I asked myself how a woman can sing a song like ‘Independence Day’ while simultaneously supporting those who facilitate the very issues that you sang about in that song. That is one of my all time favorite songs and I am glad you are standing behind your morals and values.”
Trump’s name and likeness are mostly absent from Freedom 250 promotional materials. But on his own website, Freedom 250 CEO Keith Krauch, who was appointed by the president, was quick to credit Trump with instigating the organization, a partnership between the government and private entities.
“Freedom 250 CEO Keith Krach has touted the initiative’s nonpartisan nature in discussing the events around America’s birthday. But he left no doubt that Trump was the founder of the organization.
“President Donald J. Trump pledged that our nation’s 250th birthday would be celebrated in a way worthy of our history, our values, and our future,” Krach wrote. “To help realize that vision at national scale, he launched Freedom 250 — the nonpartisan organization created to lead this historic effort. I am grateful to President Trump for the opportunity to execute his vision for Freedom 250. At its core, Freedom 250 is a national movement — bringing states, businesses, organizations, and citizens together to honor our history, cherish our God-given freedoms, and help build a golden age of opportunity for the next 250 years.”
Despite the promise of nonpartisanship, controversy arose over a May 17 religious event put on by the organization, dubbed Rededicate 250, which some detractors felt blurred the line between church and MAGA. Participants included conservative political figures like Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, JD Vance and Mike Johnson as well as ministers or evangelists like Franklin Graham and Paula White-Cain. Trump appeared on video at the event to read from scripture. More centrist or left-leaning faith organizations like the Interfaith Alliance spoke out against the gathering.
Of Freedom 250 generally, the Associated Press reported that “congressional Democrats have questioned the nonprofit’s structure and finances, which they see as a Trump-controlled end run around a separate commission charted by Congress a decade ago to prepare semiquincentennial events.”
