Gavin Newsom was practically ready to “throw a party” after witnessing the failure of the MAGA festival organized by Trump.
Gavin Newsom mercilessly mocks Trump’s MAGA festival failure with famed villains
Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair in Washington D.C. continues to hemorrhage artists after six acts all pulled out of the event for a variety of reasons
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Gavin Newsom mocked Trump’s MAGA music festival after nearly all of the artists backed out(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The musical festival known as the Great American State Fair in honor of the 250th anniversary of American independence, has seen nearly all of the artists attached to it back out on less than 48 hours–and Gavin Newsom wasted no time mocking the event’s failure to secure its entertainment.
The event, which is set to be a 16-day festival in Washington D.C. has been heavily pushed by President Donald Trump, but has suffered humiliating defeats just days after announcing a lineup of nine different acts that were scheduled to perform.
Now, after nearly all of the artists dropped out, leaving the event at risk of falling completely apart, California Governor Gavin Newsom has weighed in to mercilessly mock the event, which has been billed as a MAGA festival.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the governor and potential 2028 Democratic hopeful didn’t pull any punches as he mocked the artist exodus.
Sharing a photo making fun of the original announcement by replacing the artists’ photos with those of famous villains, including Darth Vader, The Joker, and Michael Myers, Newsom trolled the fact that so many performers had backed out.
“Wow even Hannibal Lecter canceled!” he captioned the post.
His comment comes after the number of artists who had officially backed out rose to six, with a seventh potentially also now opting not to perform.
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Gavin Newsom mocked the artists dropping out of the event(Image: X/ @GovPressOffice)
The only confirmed acts to still be performing are Flo Rida and Vanilla Ice.
In a wide variety of statements, the acts who pulled out alleged a number of different reasons for doing so, citing things from the festival being misrepresented to them, to political disagreements, safety concerns, and even saying they had never actually signed on in the first place and were confused why they were mentioned on the advertisement.
The first to back out was Morris Day and The Time, which stated that the group would not be performing, writing a simple “It’s a no for me,” as the caption on their post.
Young MC quickly followed, citing the political backing and charged environment.
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Newsom trolled the fact that the festical had lost 6 out of 9 performers in just days(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
“I have informed my agents that I will not be performing at the Freedom 250 event,” he wrote. “The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event. And despite the claims by the organizers that the event is non-partisan, Spin magazine describes it as ‘Trump-backed.’ I hope to perform in D.C. in the near future at an event that is not so politically charged.”
The Commodores also cited politics in their announcement, saying, “Our music has always been our voice and we chose not to publicly affiliate with any single political party. We support the betterment of all Americans.”
Martina McBride shared that she had been misled about what the event stood for as she cited her reasons for backing out.
“I was presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading,” she wrote. “I asked lots and lots of questions and was assured this was a nonpartisan event that was meant to celebrate ALL 50 states.”
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Trump has yet to comment on the artist exodus(Image: Getty Images)
“I’ve spent my entire career singing songs about real people with real issues. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to be a voice for those who have felt like they didn’t have one,” she continued later. “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 DC area very soon.”
As for Michaels, he also noted a more divisive environment than he expected and cited safety concerns behind his reason to pull 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,” he wrote. “Concerns have also been raised regarding the safety of my fans, band, crew, family and myself, including threats that are completely unfounded and unforgivable.”
Milli Vanilli admitted they had not been contacted to perform at all.
C+C Music Factory has yet to fully back out, after frontman Freedom Williams shared he hadn’t been aware of the fair’s affiliation with Trump when he was booked for the event, but later teased in an expletive-ridden tirade that he might go through with it anyway, saying, “The day I let you…tell me what to do is the day I die…You can’t cancel me.”
