After the fiasco of the Freedom 250 concert, which saw the announced headliners withdraw one by one from the upcoming event, Donald Trump faces a new problem with high-profile celebrities.
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His UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) extravaganza, which transforms the South Lawn of the White House into a 4,500-seat cage fighting arena, appears to be empty of its celebrity guests.
Some 300 invitations were reportedly sent to celebrities, with UFC president Dana White confiding magazine Time (English source) that actors like Adam Sandler, Jared Leto, Jason Statham, as well as director Guy Ritchie, former NFL player Tom Brady and wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock†Johnson were on the UFC Freedom 250 guest list.
Yet these headliners appear to have no intention of showing up on June 14, which is also Trump’s 80th birthday.
Like the musicians who shun the Great American State Fair concerts because they do not want to be associated with an event linked to Trump or participate in partisan celebrations, the big Hollywood stars also shun cage fighting.
A source close to The Rock told magazine Vanity Fair (English source) that he would not participate, while representatives for Adam Sandler and Jared Leto have indicated that they will not be present for the fight.
Nobody knows who will actually show up, but as for the stars, everything suggests another programming fiasco for the Trump administration and its Freedom 250 events organized in public-private partnership.
Freedom 250 is funded by a public-private partnership, with funds including from Trump-friendly technology companies Palantir and Oracle, as well as federal contractors Deloitte and Lockheed Martin, among others. The program has come under increasing scrutiny from watchdog organizations and members of Congress, who denounce the use of federal funds for Trump-aligned events.
Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen called for congressional investigations after the New York Times revealed that Freedom 250 donors were being offered access to the president if they contributed $1 million.
According to un récent sondage YouGov (English source)51% of Americans disapprove of this celebration around cage fighting, many seeing it as a celebration for Trump rather than a true commemoration of 250 years of the United States.
