About two days ago, Freedom 250, the Trump-backed public-private partnership that intends to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States in lavish form, announced the lineup for the Great American State Fair, a series of concerts on the National Mall. Moments after that unveiling, the series was the subject of a whole lot of jokes because so many of the acts are '90s hitmakers who aren't taken very seriously. Since then, there's been an avalanche effect, with most of the artists dropping off and a few reaffirming their commitment to perform. And then there's Flo Rida, the biggest artist of the bunch and the only one who hasn't said anything.
Everyone else is talking. Morris Day & The Time were the first act to drop off the Freedom 250 lineup, just hours after it was announced, and they were not the last. Young MC, Martina McBride, Bret Michaels, and the Commodores all followed Morris Day, dropping off the lineup. Vanilla Ice, by contrast, said that he's absolutely playing the shows. Fab Morvan, the surviving member of Milli Vanilli, also said he's performing, though some of the people who recorded the group's vocals claimed that they hadn't been asked to perform.
C+C Music Factory rapper Freedom Williams addressed the booking in a seven-minute toilet video, dissing the Trump administration but saying that he'd still play the show, though it's hard to imagine it actually happening after all of that. (For the record, actual surviving C+C Music Factory member Robert Clivilles says that Williams was never a real member and that he's doing his best to ruin the group's name by taking bookings like this.)
That leaves Flo Rida. Flo Rida is kind of the big coup of the Great American State Fair lineup, though maybe I shouldn't use "coup" in that context when talking about Trump-related activities. Flo Rida is the only act booked who has made consistent hits this century. With the possible exception of Martina McBride, he's got more hits than any of the other acts booked. With the possible exception of the Commodores (who are operating without onetime leader Lionel Richie), Flo Rida made his hits over a longer period of time. He's got a bigger name than any of them, and he seems to perform on big stages with more consistency. Flo Rida isn't exactly a relevant act now, but his time in the spotlight was much more recent. Teenagers today are very aware of "Low," and I'm not sure I could say the same about any of the songs from any of the other acts.
Here's where I put in a caveat: Does a single emoji count as addressing the controversy? If you go to Flo Rida's Instagram, the top pinned post is a workout video from several months ago, and all of the comments are people yelling at Flo Rida about playing Freedom 250. According to one Redditor, Flo Rida responded to one fan who left an Instagram comment asking, "Performing for Trump? Why??" The response was three cry-laughing emojis. There's a screengrab on Reddit, but I couldn't find the comment itself to verify, so it could be fake. In any case, the cry-laughing emoji seems like what you'd use if you were going to play a Trump-related event and you didn't care that people were mad about it.
In 2023, the New Yorker ran a feature about "privates" — famous musicians who make a lot of money by playing private events for billionaires. It's largely focused on Flo Rida. If the money is right, Flo Rida will perform anywhere.
