Trump’s just being picky. He turned down Alec Baldwin, who volunteered to sing Meatloaf’s “Highway to Hell.” 
No, it was ac/dc’s “Bat out of hell.” 
Some quality trolling from television-talent-show runner-up Rebecca Ferguson, who says she was asked to perform at the inauguration and accepted…on the condition that she gets to sing “Strange Fruit”.
I admit I have deliberately ignored X Factor and its output of fame-desperate wannabes and thus have never really been aware of Ms Ferguson or her work, but this made me laugh.
Maybe Bill Clinton could get onstage and get play some sax?
That wouldn’t make any difference; The Donald would rather stick his short vulgarian fingers into “some sort of fund” and take the money himself rather than spend it on the inauguration.
Some of the hitherto most odious Republican politicians even hate him. Notoriously left-wing Hollywood? Loathe his very being.
Bat – Highway – Hell
It’s all connected. 
While it is true that the entertainment industry tends to skew left, likely as a combination of geography, association marginalized minorities who have traditionally found success denied to them in more traditional industries, and a certain necessary celebration of the extreme in personal tastes and behaviors, there are plenty of people working in the entertainment industry who skew conservative. However, and this should not be ignored, Donald Trump is not a conservative. He is a demagogue who hijacked the conservative platform outlined two decades ago as spearheaded by Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, taking the most xenophobic, misogynistic, and subtextually racist elements of it and amplifying them to the extreme, bringing out both the people who don’t ordinarily vote for a nominally “conservative” candidate and attracting billions of dollars in media coverage for free, making it the best deal Trump has ever actually made.
Inauguration ceremonies are typically paid for out of the candidate’s election fund. If you think Trump is going to allow more than a token amount of that money to slip through his tiny digits then you haven’t read his magnum mendacium, The Art of the Deal, where he describes how to get the best of a deal by refusing to pay after receiving services. And everybody else knows it, too.
Stranger
You’re thinking small. How did he fund his six-foot self-portrait? By rerouting funds given to his charity. He’ll get other people to pay his expenses. And - like Mexico - they’ll be happy to do so!
From the same link…
Fear of death threats perhaps? Hell, The electoral delegates were getting them and they were just acting on behalf of the citizens. I cant imagine how bad it would be if someone willingly associated themselves with Trump.
I wonder if they’ve asked Ted Nugent?
Anyway, I don’t find it surprising, and think it’s funny as hell. I hope performers stick to their guns and continue to refuse.
Strictly speaking, there’s a Presidential Inaugural Committee that uses leftover campaign funds as well as fundraising specifically for the inaugural events. The federal government itself generally contributes a sizeable chunk of the total (e.g., $49 million of an approximately $170 million budget for Obama’s 2009 ceremony).
The committee foots the bill for the event but it sounds as though that’s more for renting the stage and lights and paying the caterers, etc. Performers show up out of respect for the president and the ceremony (and for the free promotion).
And there you have it. /closethread
The man loves a party and spectacle. He’s a showman. He’s not a shy, head-down, get right to work kind of guy.
Yet another norm broken. Perhaps he can find a Skrewdriver cover band to perform for him. And I’m pretty sure Kanye West would be open to performing in exchange for some modest favors. Of course, he might have an emotional breakdown in the middle of the ceremony, but whatever.
Well, sort of: “I play it very loose. I don’t carry a briefcase. I try not to schedule too many meetings. I leave my door open. . . . I prefer to come to work each day and just see what develops.” Exactly the approach you want to see out of the chief executive of one of the world’s two largest nuclear aresenals and head of the largest military force in the world.
Stranger
Am I the only one who noticed that this latest celebrity to turn him down is actually from the UK? So not only can’t he find American acts, but he is even being turned down by foreign talent who would probably love to get American exposure. And by the way, what happened to hiring Americans?Why is he outsourcing the inaugural talent?
Speaking of foreign talent; he can always ask Vladimir Vladimirovich to send over some Russian pop stars.
I’m confused too. Keep in mind there are thousands of celebrities, probably tens of thousands, out there. Lots of musicians to pick from, and they can’t find any decent talent? 63 million people voted for the guy. A few had to be celebrities.
In the convention they were using D list celebrities.
Maybe they are afraid of being blacklisted for performing.