The lead-up to Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration has been the perfect shitstorm: due to his own relentless unpopularity, big-name acts have been reticent to perform at his swearing-in ceremony.
Yet, there was a glimmer of hope for a genuine superstar to perform at the event. A minuscule chance that one of the planet’s most prominent performers would grace the stage.
We’re talking Kanye West, here. Now, even that possibility seems to have evaporated.
After proclaiming he would’ve voted for Trump over Hillary Clinton – and then actually meeting with Trump to discuss God knows what – Kanye seemed like a dark horse to participate in the contentious proceedings.
But when pressed on the issue by CNN, head of Trump’s inauguration committee Tom Barrack said “we haven’t asked him.”
“He considers himself a friend of the President-elect, but it’s not the venue.“The venue we have for entertainment is filled out, it’s perfect, it’s going to be typically and traditionally American, and Kanye is a great guy but we just haven’t asked him to perform.“We move on with our agenda.”
Given the shaky line-up and Trump’s nepotistic bent, it certainly seems likely they asked him at some point, but hey.
As it stands, the “agenda” involves the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, a reality TV show runner-up, a Broadway dance troupe (whose members are reportedly furious with the performance), and 3 Doors Down.
Fuck, even a Bruce Springsteen tribute band just pulled out of playing an inauguration ball out of deference to The Boss and his stance on the President-elect. (Scorn In The USA?)
In any case, you’ll be able to see how it all unfolds when Trump gets sworn in on Friday. We’re holding out for a combination Taylor Swift mic-stealing moment / George W. Bush call-out from Yeezy, tbqh.
Source: CNN.
Photo: Drew Angerer / Getty.
