John Oliver Roasts Trump's Freedom 250 Concert: 'People You Haven't Thought About Since 2009' - Rolling Stone

John Oliver recounted the disaster that Donald Trump‘s upcoming Freedom 250 concert series is quickly becoming on HBO‘s Last Week Tonight. The shows, intended to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, were announced with a lineup of artists like Bret Michaels, Vanilla Ice, C+C Music Factory, and Milli Vanilli. “It is a stacked lineup of people that you haven’t thought about since 2009,” Oliver quipped. “Honestly, that sounds less like America’s 250th birthday and more like the playlist at Rhonda’s 50th. The only really surprising thing about that lineup is there aren’t special appearances from the ShamWow guy and the Gushers kid whose head turned into a raspberry.” Several of the artists, including Martina McBride and Michaels, signed on thinking the event was nonpartisan. But it has emerged that it is not. “Now, crucially, the organization planning that event, Freedom 250, is not the same thing as the nonprofit America250, led by a bipartisan board created by Congress,” Oliver recounted. “Instead, it’s a public-private partnership launched by the White House with some dicey elements, including the fact that for $1 million, donors to it could get access to Trump. And as its political slant became clear, acts who were part of that initial announcement quickly began to bail.” blogherads.adq.push(function () { blogherads .defineSlot( 'medrec', 'gpt-dsk-tab-article-inbody-uid0' ) .setTargeting( 'pos', ) .setTargeting( 'viewable', 'yes' ) .setSubAdUnitPath("tv-movies\/article\/inbody1") .addSize(,,,,,,,,]) .setClsOptimization("minsize") ; }); Over the past week, Young MC, Morris Day and the Time, McBride, Michaels, and the Commodores have all pulled out. This led to Trump proclaiming on Truth Social that he would replace them and “give a major speech, rallying the Country forward like I have done ever since being President!”