The list of musical performers at Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration ceremony either prompted onlookers to do a quick Google search on an announced act, or collectively shake their heads at those who decided to accept the invitation. But one artist who has rubbed elbows publicly with the president-elect was nowhere to be found within Trump’s team’s inauguration celebration discussions. That person being Kanye West.
According to CNN, Tom Barrack, the spearhead of Trump’s inauguration committee, briefly spoke on why they decided to give a hard pass on extending an invite to the “All Falls Down” rapper.
“He considers himself a friend of the President-elect, but it’s not the venue. The venue we have for entertainment is filled out, it’s perfect. It’s going to be typically and traditionally American, and Kanye is a great guy but we just haven’t asked him to perform,” he said. “We move on with our agenda.”
Damn @kanyewest couldn’t even get to perform at this friend @realDonaldTrump‘s inauguration b/c the event is “Traditionally American”. pic.twitter.com/wu3EezncR2
— Unstripped Voice (@UnstrippedVoice) January 18, 2017
In mid-December, West attended a meeting with the Republican at Trump Tower to discuss “multicultural issues,” which ranged from education, gun violence in Chicago, and bullying. “I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future President if we truly want change,” Ye said.
The list of performers confirmed for the event include Toby Keith, Sam Moore, The Radio City Rockettes, and most recently Chrisette Michele.