Music
Like his fellow HBO host Bill Maher, John Oliver dedicated the opening portion of his hit show “Last Week Tonight” with a takedown of President Trump’s Freedom 250 concert series celebrating America’s 250th birthday that initially boasted a lineup of not-so-relevant acts like Vanilla Ice, C+C Music Factory and Milli Vanilli.
“It is a stacked lineup of people that you haven’t thought about since 2009,” joked Oliver. “Honestly, that sounds less like America’s 250th birthday and more like the playlist at Rhonda’s 50th. The only really surprising thing about that lineup is there aren’t special appearances from the ShamWow guy and the Gushers kid whose head turned into a raspberry.”
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Running June 25 to July 10 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the Freedom 250 concert series was initially billed as a nonpartisan celebration of America’s Semiquincentennial. While planning initially began in 2016 from the bipartisan congressional nonprofit America250, the Trump-aligned group Freedom 250 took over planning during Trump’s second term as a means to politicize the celebrations.
“Now, crucially, the organization planning that event, Freedom 250, is not the same thing as the non-profit America250, led by a bipartisan board created by Congress. Instead, it’s a public-private partnership launched by the White House with some dicey elements, including the fact that for $1 million, donors to it could get access to Trump,” Oliver explained, adding, “And as its political slant became clear, acts who were part of that initial announcement quickly began to bail.”
Yes, acts such as rapper Young MC, R&B groups Morris Day and the Time and The Commodores, country star Martina McBride, and Bret Michaels all pulled out of the Freedom 250 concert series once they’d learned more about the celebrations. There have been so many acts pulling out that Trump launched into a late-night rant on his social media platform Truth Social, calling the artists “overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain” and saying that they should “cancel it.”
“Yeah, that is a lot of cancellations. Although I do have to tell you: Vanilla Ice did not pull out, which I do realize sounds like the answer to the question, ‘Why does that baby have frosted tips?’” cracked Oliver. “Even some of the acts currently still scheduled to play may not be the exact people you’re expecting. For instance, neither of the C’s in C+C Music Factory will be performing, it’s just their rapper Freedom Williams, who initially agreed to perform, then considered backing out, then doubled down on performing because he was so mad that people were criticizing him” — a decision Williams rather hilariously explained during a seven-minute video he made while taking a poop in his bathroom.
In addition to the Freedom 250 concert series, there will be a UFC Freedom 250 series of fights at the White House, a Freedom 250 Grand Prix IndyCar race and a Times Square ball drop.
“Even with those cancellations, there will still be things to do, because Freedom 250 is also touting attractions that will include state and territory showcases from across America, a 110-foot Ferris wheel, CEO and innovator-led conversations and demonstrations, and special screenings of the iconic films ‘National Treasure’ and ‘National Treasure: Book of Secrets,’ bringing a real ‘substitute teacher doesn’t give a fuck’ energy to the proceedings,” offered Oliver.
He continued: “Although, given how everything has been going, I wouldn’t be remotely surprised if tomorrow we got a press release reading, ‘Due to divisive politics, I will no longer be attending the 250th celebration’ from the fucking Ferris wheel.”