Happy 250th birthday, America. Here’s Milli Vanilli.
A series of publicly funded events catering to Donald Trump’s taste — including an Ultimate Fighting Championship match on the White House lawn and a grand prix race through the nation’s capital — will include “musical icons” on the National Mall, according to the White House-sponsored Freedom 250 project.
Freedom 250 announced what it’s calling a “star-studded” lineup of “legendary” artists for the Great American State Fair, including an “I Love the ‘90s!” concert with the surviving member of the lip-syncing “Girl You Know It’s True” duo — as well as one-hit wonders Vanilla Ice, Young MC and C+C Music Factory.
The concert on June 26 is “an evening of ‘90s nostalgia, iconic hits, and live performances from some of the era’s most recognizable names,” according to Freedom 250.
The 16-day national expo will host concerts in Washington, D.C. from June 25-July 3, with programming through July 10.
Milli Vanilli, which famously imploded after Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus admitted that they didn’t sing on their records, is returning to live performances nearly 20 years after the death of Pilatus, who died following an alcohol and drug overdose in 1998.
Morvan gained the rights to the name and is now performing as a live band.
Vanilla Ice, who has performed at Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at Mar-A-Lago several times, joins a lineup that also features the “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” group and “Bust a Move” rapper Young MC.
Country singer Martina McBride performs June 25, and funk and R+B artists The Commodores and Morris Day and The Time perform June 27.
Flo Rida performs July 2, and closing out the event on July 3 is Poison frontman Bret Michaels.
Freedom 250 events seem to lack any clear connections to the signing of the Declaration of Independence or other monumental events surrounding the country’s founding but instead appear to be tailored to the president’s agenda and his supporters.
Construction crews are building a massive Ultimate Fighting Championship ring on the White House lawn for an event that coincides with the president’s 80th birthday.
There are also plans for an IndyCar race through D.C.
The Great American State Fair will host a massive ferris wheel and state exhibitions — along with “Make America Healthy Again”-themed events and “special screenings of the iconic films National Treasure and National Treasure: Book of Secrets.”
Freedom 250 — which is funded through a public-private partnership with funding from Trump-aligned tech firms Palantir and Oracle and federal contractors Deloitte and Lockheed Martin, among others — is facing growing scrutiny from watchdog groups and members of Congress over the use of federal dollars for Trump-aligned events.
Democratic lawmakers are pressing the Interior Department to provide a “clear accounting” of money routed to Freedom 250. Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen is calling for congressional investigations after The New York Times reported that donors to Freedom 250 were offered access to the president if they donated $1 million or more.
Earlier this month, Freedom 250 sponsored “Rededicate 250,” a day of Christian prayer on the National Mall with a speaking lineup that largely included Trump-allied evangelical Christians and far-right preachers.
“The corporate sponsors of Freedom 250 may want to curry favor with the Trump administration, but they should be forced to answer whether they support the extreme agenda they are celebrating,” Public Citizen Co-President Robert Weissman said in a statement.
