One day before the kickoff concert for World Pride 2025 in the nation’s capital, headlining performer Shakira has abruptly cancelled due to equipment difficulties.
“We are deeply disappointed that unforeseen circumstances have forced the cancellation” of the concert, the Capital Pride Alliance, the main World Pride organizer, said in a Friday statement. “Updates about the relocated Opening Ceremony program will be released as soon as they are finalized!”
The multi-platinum singer had been scheduled to headline the opening celebrations Saturday night at Nationals Park. The reasons are apparently an extension of equipment issues related to her Thursday night concert in Boston’s Fenway Park, which was also cancelled hours before it was set to begin. A Friday night concert at Fenway for country star Jason Aldean was also cancelled.
“Due to complications with the previous show in Boston, Shakira’s full tour production cannot be transported to Washington, D.C. in time for her scheduled performance at Nationals Park,” the Capital Pride Alliance statement said. “Despite every effort to make it happen, it is not possible to move forward as planned.”
The Alliance noted that the full slate of citywide events was still on for opening weekend, and said the kickoff ceremony would be relocated and reorganized.
The cancellation presents a further challenge for the Alliance, but at least a non-political one. Organizers have already said they expected international attendance to measurably suffer as a result of concern and anger in the LGBTQ+ community over President Donald Trump’s policies.
Trump’s public antipathy for trans protections and drag shows has already prompted two international LGBTQ+ organizations, Eagle Canada and the African Human Rights Coalition, to issue warnings against traveling to the U.S. at all. The primary concern is that trans or non-binary individuals would face trouble entering the country if passport control officers enforce the administration’s strict binary view of gender status.
Some potential international participants have already announced plans to skip this year’s events, either out of fear of harassment or as a boycott against Trump’s policies. But others have called for a domestic mobilization to flood the capital.
Capital Pride Alliance Executive Director Ryan Bos said that security fencing would be installed surrounding the final two-day concert and rally on a multi-block stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Early hotel reservation numbers for the final World Pride weekend, June 6-8, were originally down from the previous year, according to Destination D.C., which tracks reservations.
But Destination D.C. President Elliott Ferguson told reporters on Thursday that, “what we’re seeing now is a surge at the last minute, especially with the national community.”
Ferguson speculated that concerns about international attendance had “galvanized the local community, the national community to want to come to the city.”
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