In 2016, amid a dearth of prominent entertainers willing to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration, Trump disavowed the very idea of celebrities attending the event.
“The so-called ‘A’ list celebrities are all wanting tixs to the inauguration, but look what they did for Hillary, NOTHING. I want the PEOPLE!,” Trump wrote on Twitter at the time.
This time, things appear to be different. Trump has A-list attendees lined up for his inaugural events, including a number of high-profile Black and Latino celebrities, as the soon-to-be-47th president flexes his increased standing with communities of color.
Several well-known athletes, including football’s Antonio Brown, boxing’s Mike Tyson and hockey’s Evander Kane, are also expected to attend, according to a source familiar with the attendance list.
So are the Billboard chart-topping rappers Rod Wave, Kodak Black and Fivio Foreign, with Black and Foreign publicly backing Trump through event appearances and explicitly in their music.
Anuel AA and Justin Quiles, Puerto-Rican reggaeton artists who faced backlash after endorsing Trump in August, are also on the guest list for Trump’s inaugural events, as well as UFC fighter Jorge Masvidal.
“It’s going to be an ‘AA-mazing’ experience joining President Trump this weekend for his inauguration,” Anuel said. “He is everything I stand for, and will not only build our country back up, but has told me he wants to help Puerto Rico, my home, grow and succeed.”
UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who celebrated with Trump after retaining the championship in a November bout, is also set to attend.
“Pulling up to the presidential inauguration isn’t just about watching history, it’s about feeling it. This is a celebration of leadership and unity, a reminder of what we can achieve when we come together as one,” Jones said in a statement.
The stars’ attendance illustrate not just Trump’s higher levels of popularity among Black and Latino voters, but also how much cultural perception has shifted since his first term, when performing at his inauguration meant risking career death.
The Grammy-winning R&B singer Chrisette Michele, who sang alongside gospel singer Travis Greene during Trump’s first inauguration festivities, has discussed how she faced fierce backlash at the time and how her career never fully recovered. Michele ultimately lost an album distribution deal and potential paid gigs and struggled to sell out shows, all of which she attributed to performing at the 2017 inauguration.
Michele told “The Breakfast Club” podcast in an interview that stress from the backlash ultimately led her to suffer a miscarriage and suicidal ideation.
“I regret everything that happened,” she said. “I think that was a bad choice.”
This inauguration, Carrie Underwood will perform “The Star-Spangled Banner” and an appearance at any of the weekend’s events could be a boon for those entertainers, some of whom have played into newfound prominence among Trump’s base.
The increased embrace of Trump, some Republicans say, centers on him becoming “cool” in a way he was not during either in his first run for the White House or his 2020 re-election effort. Charlie Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA, which focuses on mobilizing young voters, used Trump’s signature Make America Great Again hats as proof of a “cultural reversal.”
“Who remembers back in 2016 if you wore this back on the streets of New York? It was open hunting season. If you wore this in 2021, they would come after you,” Kirk said. “When I went to college campuses this last cycle, we ordered a couple hundred MAGA hats. All of a sudden, all the kids wanted them.”
The presidential election results further bolster that theory, as Trump’s improved performance with young voters, Black voters and Latino voters created a permission structure for artists appealing to a similar demographic to be more vocal in their support of the president-elect.
Waka Flocka Flame, from Georgia, was among the first rappers this election cycle to go public with support for Trump. A meet-and-greet event in Washington, D.C., was canceled days after the election after his political views were made known to the owners of the event’s venue, who swiftly disavowed them.
“One of my meet and greet events in DC was canceled today because of some people’s opinion … because they harassed a liquor store until they cancelled,” he wrote on X. “Then they spin it like I did something wrong for having an opinion … that’s freedom?
But that degree of backlash appears to not hold the same weight.
Waka Flocka Flame will not just attend inauguration, but he’ll also be among the Black celebrities making an appearance at the Black Conservative Federation’s “Presidential Inaugural Ball” fundraising event. Last year, the organization awarded Trump the “Champion of Black America” award during the event.
On Friday night, Snoop Dogg is expected to headline the first inaugural “Crypto Ball” hosted by Trump’s incoming AI and crypto czar David Sacks, after declaring last year that he has “nothing but love” for Trump.
That marks a significant shift for the West Coast rapper, who in 2017 released a Donald Trump diss track, “M.A.C.A,” and derided his “Make America Great Again” slogan.
“Certain people feel like we should make America ‘great again,’ but that time they’re referring to always takes me back to separation,” the rapper said in a statement at the time.
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