Country star Martina McBride and rocker Bret Michaels became the fourth and fifth performers to drop out of the upcoming “Freedom 250” concert on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., fearing it will be perceived as partisan.
McBride announced her departure from the event in a social media post on Thursday.
“I would like to talk to you and clear the air,” she wrote. “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.”
According to McBride, event organizers assured her that the event would be nonpartisan and would bring the country together.
“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,” she said.
Though she did not elaborate as to exactly what led her to believe the event would be partisan, she ultimately decided to back out.
“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,” she said. “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.”
As noted by Variety, 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,” as well as Michaels.
Yet early Friday morning, Variety reported that Michaels, frontman for the rock band Poison, also dropped out.
“Unfortunately, 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,” Michaels said, Variety reported. “Concerns 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.”
The only artists still billed to perform are Vanilla Ice, C&C Music Factory (who admitted to wavering), and Flo Rida.