The Friday morning ceremony is just a small part of inauguration weekend.
On Thursday night, musicians like Toby Keith and 3 Doors Down performed at the Make America Great Again welcome celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.
Still others have proclaimed that they won’t perform at the inauguration. Here is what a few entertainers had to say.
2 Chainz
The rapper posted a video to Instagram in which he expressed disappointment that he would likely never visit the White House after not being invited by President Obama during his eight years in office. The rapper then mentioned that Trump’s people had called him about the inauguration, but he had declined to appear. “I know they only doing this ’cause they can’t get nobody else,” the rapper said. “They want me to perform for the inauguration. I had to say, ‘Nah.’ No matter how much money it was.”
Andrea Bocelli
The New York Post reported that the Italian tenor, of whom Trump is a fan, had initially agreed to participate in the inauguration before changing his mind because he was concerned about fan backlash.
The B Street Band
After committing to perform inauguration weekend, the cover band of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band backed out of the gig out of respect for Bruce Springsteen, who has been very critical of Trump in the past. “We owe everything to Bruce,” B Street keyboardist Will Forte told Rolling Stone. “And our gratitude and respect to the band is imperative above all else.”
Ice-T
It seems somewhat dubious that the Law & Order: SVU actor and singer of “Cop Killer” was asked to perform, but Ice-T tweeted in December that he didn’t even pick up the phone when called about performing.
I just got call to perform at the Inauguration…. I didn’t pick up and Blocked the number.
— ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) December 16, 2016
Just call Ted Nugent and call it a day….
— ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) December 16, 2016
Jennifer Holliday
The actress and singer, best known for her turn on Broadway in Dreamgirls, initially agreed to perform at the inauguration before pulling out, citing a “serious lapse in judgement.” The Grammy and Tony winner also said that she owed it to her LGBT fans to stand up to Trump. “My only choice must now be to stand with the LGBT Community and to state unequivocally that I WILL NOT PERFORM FOR THE WELCOME CONCERT OR FOR ANY OF THE INAUGURATION FESTIVITIES,” the singer wrote in a statement.
