Although the nation’s capital is undergoing a transformation to usher in a major celebration for America’s 250th anniversary, many Americans seemed determined to do whatever they can to spoil the fun.

President Donald Trump’s critics in politics and entertainment have been disparaging the idea for months … and as a star-studded concert series lineup began to emerge, some of the president’s haters apparently decided to harass and threaten those who agreed to perform.

As a result, several of those artists have announced they’ll be dropping out of the show, including Poison singer Bret Michaels.

As The Hill reported, he cited threats against himself, his fans, and his family as a primary reason for his decision:

“When this opportunity was originally presented to my team, it was described as a celebration of our country through music and a chance to honor our veterans, active military, first responders, teachers and hardworking Americans from all walks of life,” the rocker wrote in a statement posted on Instagram early Friday.

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“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. 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.”

Michaels is one of a growing list of performers scheduled to perform who have dropped out from the 16-day event scheduled to run between June 25 and July 10.

News of Michaels’ exit soon began to spread via social media:

Some prominent conservative commentators have used the latest developments to criticize the right’s approach to booking entertainers:

Michaels is just the latest to make such an announcement. Country singer Martina McBride posted this:

Here’s some additional reporting from Variety on which artists, as of this writing, are still expected to perform:

With his departure, Michaels joins Morris Day, Young MC, the Commodores and Martina McBride on the list of those doing quick pullouts over the last two days. Only two out of nine acts have publicly declared an intent to go through with the gigs: Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan. C&C Music Factory frontman Freedom Williams said he was still uncertain whether he’d go through with thier appearance or not. That leaves only Flo Rida out of the nine who has still not addressed the issue at all.

The divisiveness that Michaels spoke of was fully evident in comments left on his social media posts about the pull-out, with different fans reading different things into the musician’s message, which was nebulous on where he stands on Trump or whether the festival was initially a good idea.

A majority of messages on his posts congratulated Michaels for making the move he did, with many saying they would have had a hard time continuing to listen to his music if he had gone on at a festival that many identify with the president and the MAGA movement. But some disappointed conservative fans pointed out that Michaels’ comments about “threats” were the clearest part of his post, and that his exit might have more to do with that than any disavowal of Trump or his initiatives.

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Meanwhile, here’s what leftist organizers are preparing to protest the Great American Fair:

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

 

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