Initially on the lineup, Martina McBride, Morris Day, Young MC and more announced they would not perform at Washington, D.C., event after learning about organizers’ Trump ties

President Donald Trump wants to nix the the Freedom 250 concert, and instead wants to hold a Make America Great Again Rally. His latest missive follows him initially recommending that he himself perform following the sudden exits of artists booked for the event dubbed the “Great American State Fair on National Mall” in Washington, D.C.

“We should have a giant MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for 250, instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain,” he posted on Truth Social late Saturday afternoon. “Cancel it, just like I canceled my involvement with the failing and unsafe to be in Kennedy Center, because a Highly Conflicted, Crooked Federal Judge, said that I should not be allowed to spend my time and money in order to MAKE THE CENTER GREAT AGAIN, actually, far greater than it ever was before!”

It appears Trump is still sore about the ruling from U.S. District Judge Casey Cooper, who determined that the Kennedy Center “cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the board’s unilateral say-so” on Friday. The judge also ordered that officials remove any of the signage at the Kennedy Center that bears Trump’s name within two weeks.

Trump continued in his Saturday afternoon post, “It would have also been nice to see a Republican/Democrat union bring it back to life. The Kennedy Center is broken, unsafe, and $busted, and has been for many years! Judge Cooper also stated that the highly prestigious Board of the Center was not authorized to add on the name ‘TRUMP’ despite the fact that hundreds of millions of dollars of my time and money will be necessary for its successful reincarnation. So now, the Kennedy Center will collapse, both structurally and financially. Judge Cooper and his wife, Amy Jeffress (obfuscation anyone?), should be ashamed of themselves. Judge Cooper, like numerous other Crooked Judges on my cases, should be IMPEACHED. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

On Wednesday, the Freedom 250 concert — organized by Keith Krach, a Trump appointee — announced their strange lineup for the event, which included the likes of Martina McBride, Flo Rida and the Commodores alongside Nineties acts like Milli Vanilli and Vanilla Ice.

Soon after the lineup announcement, many of the booked acts — including Morris Day and the Time and Young MC — revealed they would not partake in the Freedom 250 concert. “It’s a no for me,” Day wrote on social media.

Young MC told VIBE on Thursday, “I had no clue it was considered a ‘Trump-backed’ event, so that was new to me. My whole thing was ‘tell me what the event is, what it’s about, who you are, and then give me the choice of whether I want to do the event or not.’ I was never given that choice. I was told one thing, and then it was a bait-and-switch. All the comments I’ve seen from the artists that have dropped out thought it was supposed to be a regular show in D.C.”

By the end of the week, McBride, Bret Michaels, and the Commodores had also exited the concert series, which was scheduled to run from June 25 to July 10 at the National Mall. 

Shortly after returning to office, Trump created a task force to prepare for the 250th anniversary of the the country’s founding, making himself the chair of the task force and Vice President J.D. Vance its vice chair.