• Bret Michaels — Poison frontman and former Celebrity Apprentice winner — announced he is withdrawing from the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair concert series on the National Mall, citing “threats and safety concerns” and saying the event has “evolved into something much more divisive” than what he agreed to
• Michaels becomes the fifth act to exit since the lineup was announced on May 27 — joining Martina McBride, Morris Day and The Time, and Young MC — leaving just a handful of the original nine announced performers still on the bill
• In his statement, Michaels said: “Unfortunately, what was presented to us as a celebration of our country has evolved into something much more divisive than what I agreed to be a part of” — while also noting his shows have “never been about politics”
• The Freedom 250 Great American State Fair is still scheduled to run June 25 through July 10 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., organized as part of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations under President Trump

The Freedom 250 Great American State Fair is losing its lineup faster than it can replace it. Bret Michaels — the Poison frontman who also won Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice — announced Friday that he is pulling out of the Trump-backed concert series on the National Mall, citing safety threats and a festival that had become something other than what he originally agreed to. He is the fifth act to exit since the lineup was publicly announced just 48 hours earlier on May 27. As Variety pointedly observed, Freedom 250 is now a festival with very few acts left to lose, per Variety.

Michaels posted a statement to his website explaining his decision. “When this opportunity was presented to me,” he wrote, it was framed as a nonpartisan celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. That framing, he said, did not hold. “Unfortunately, what was presented to us as a celebration of our country has evolved into something much more divisive than what I agreed to be a part of.” He was also specific about the physical dimension of his exit: threats and safety concerns were raised, and those concerns factored into his decision to step away. “My shows have never been about politics,” he added, per Deadline.

Michaels’ departure carries a particular resonance given his history with Trump. He appeared on Celebrity Apprentice and won — making him, of the artists who have now exited the series, the one with the most direct personal connection to the president. That he is still choosing to withdraw, and citing safety concerns as part of his reasoning, adds a dimension to the story that goes beyond the standard political opt-out, per Billboard.

The Growing Exodus

The cascade of departures began almost immediately after the Freedom 250 lineup dropped. Morris Day and The Time were among the first to announce they would not perform, followed by Young MC. Martina McBride exited Thursday, writing on Instagram that she had been presented with “a nonpartisan event” but that “what we were told is not, in fact, what is happening.” McBride’s statement used nearly identical language to Michaels’ — both described being misled about the event’s nature before signing on. By Friday morning, five of the nine originally announced acts had now publicly withdrawn, leaving the festival’s music programming in significant disarray with less than four weeks until the scheduled June 25 opening, per Forbes.

Freedom 250 was established by President Trump to organize the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations, and the Interior Department declared it the official branding for those events. The organization has maintained publicly that it is nonpartisan — a characterization that multiple artists say does not match what they encountered when they examined the event’s structure and political affiliations more closely. The pattern across the departures is consistent: artists say they accepted based on a nonpartisan pitch, then withdrew when the fuller picture emerged.

What’s Left of the Lineup

With five of nine acts now out, the Great American State Fair faces a significant rebuilding challenge before its 16-day run on the National Mall. The festival is still scheduled to operate from June 25 through July 10 — the stretch spanning the lead-up to and follow-through on July 4th — with programming across the area between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument. What remains of the original music lineup, and whether organizers can attract replacement bookings, remains to be seen. Each new departure has arrived accompanied by statements that echo one another almost verbatim: nonpartisan is how it was sold, divisive is how it landed. For artists weighing whether to join or stay, those statements are accumulating into a pattern that is hard to ignore, per Yahoo.

The post Bret Michaels Exits Freedom 250 Over ‘Threats and Safety Concerns’ — Now 5 of 9 Acts Have Pulled Out appeared first on Cream.

• Martina McBride announced Thursday she is withdrawing from the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair — a 16-day concert series on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., running June 25 through July 10 — saying she was misled about the event’s nature
• “I was presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading,” McBride wrote on Instagram. “What we were told is not, in fact, what is happening”
• McBride is the fourth performer to exit since the lineup was announced May 27; Morris Day and The Time and Young MC also dropped out in the days immediately following the announcement
• Freedom 250 was launched by President Donald Trump and was declared the official branding of all 250th anniversary celebrations by the Interior Department — though it has been described publicly as nonpartisan

Less than 48 hours after Freedom 250 announced the lineup for its Great American State Fair concert series, Martina McBride became the fourth artist to pull out. The country singer posted to Instagram Thursday saying she had accepted a performance slot under the impression the event was nonpartisan — and that turned out not to be the case.

“I would like to talk to you and clear the air,” McBride wrote. “I will not be performing at the Great American State Fair on June 25th. I was presented with the opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading. What we were told is not, in fact, what is happening.” The statement came after she had already faced criticism online simply for being on the bill, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Freedom 250 was launched by President Donald Trump to organize the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations. The Interior Department declared it the official branding for those events. The organization has described itself as nonpartisan, a framing that multiple artists say does not match what they experienced once they looked more closely at the event’s structure and affiliations, per Variety.

A Growing Exodus

McBride is the fourth departure since the lineup dropped May 27. Morris Day and The Time announced they would not perform, followed by Young MC, before McBride made it official Thursday evening. The exits began almost immediately after the announcement, suggesting that several artists hadn’t fully understood what they had signed up for before the public reveal, per Billboard. The Great American State Fair is still scheduled to run June 25 through July 10 on the National Mall.

The post Martina McBride Is the Fourth Artist to Drop Out of Trump-Backed Freedom 250 Concerts: ‘Turned Out to Be Misleading’ appeared first on Cream.

• Scooter Braun — former manager to Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Kanye West, and the central figure in Taylor Swift’s masters dispute — sat for a rare 90-minute interview on the Second Thought With Suzy Weiss podcast, his most extensive public appearance since stepping down as CEO of Hybe America last year
• Braun said he never had a substantial relationship with Swift before the controversy: “I think I’ve met her in my life three times” — and said he never had a real conversation with her before he became, in his words, “a villain” to her fan base
• The dispute began in 2019 when Braun’s company Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Records, the label that owned the master recordings of Swift’s first six albums; Swift responded publicly and called it her “worst case scenario”
• Braun also discussed Kanye West, Spencer Pratt, and Sydney Sweeney in the wide-ranging interview

Scooter Braun doesn’t do many interviews. But the former music mogul sat for a 90-minute conversation with Suzy Weiss on her Second Thought podcast — and used a significant portion of it to address the Taylor Swift masters dispute that defined his public image for the past several years.

His main point: he barely knew her. “I think I’ve met her in my life three times,” Braun told Weiss, per Billboard. He said he’d never had a real conversation with Swift before the 2019 acquisition of Big Machine Records — and his company’s ownership of her first six albums’ master recordings — made him the target of one of pop music’s most public feuds. “I was a villain overnight,” he said.

Swift had called the acquisition her “worst case scenario” and went on to re-record her first six albums as the Taylor’s Version series, eventually reclaiming commercial control of her catalog. Braun maintained that there was no personal animosity on his end going into the situation — a framing that does little to resolve the underlying dispute but clarifies his own account of it, per TMZ.

A Rare Public Appearance

The interview covers more than Swift. Braun also spoke about Kanye West, Spencer Pratt, and made brief mention of Sydney Sweeney. He stepped down as CEO of Hybe America — the US arm of the South Korean entertainment conglomerate — last year, and has largely stayed out of the public eye since. The Second Thought podcast appearance is the most he’s said publicly in some time, per Variety.

The post Scooter Braun Says the Taylor Swift Feud Made Him a ‘Villain’ Overnight — ‘I Think I’ve Met Her Three Times in My Life’ appeared first on Cream.

• Madonna, 67, named John F. Kennedy Jr. as the best sex of her life in a new video made in partnership with Grindr to promote her upcoming 15th studio album Confessions II
• When asked to name the “best d***-down” she’s ever had, Madonna offered a qualifier first: “I’m only going to name dead people” — then picked JFK Jr., with whom she had a brief relationship in the early 1990s
• The video was obtained early by Page Six and also features playwright Jeremy O. Harris, Bob The Drag Queen, dancer Ivy Mugler, designer Raul Lopez, and i-D’s Marcello Gutierrez
• Confessions II is the follow-up to Madonna’s 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor; no release date has been announced

Madonna has never exactly been tight-lipped about her personal life, but her latest disclosure comes with one of her better qualifiers in recent memory. In a new video made with Grindr to promote her upcoming album Confessions II, the 67-year-old was asked to name the best sex she’s ever had. She was happy to answer — on one condition.

“I’m only going to name dead people,” Madonna said. Then she named John F. Kennedy Jr., per Page Six, which obtained the video before its release.

Madonna and Kennedy Jr. had a brief relationship in the early 1990s — a pairing that was the subject of considerable tabloid attention at the time and has been referenced in the decades since. Kennedy Jr. died in a 1999 plane crash at 38. The caveat Madonna attached to her ranking — limiting it to deceased exes — was noted across coverage as both practical and characteristically Madonna: a way of answering the question while declining to compare anyone currently living.

The Confessions II Rollout

The Grindr collaboration is part of an unconventional promotional push for Madonna’s 15th studio album, the follow-up to her landmark 2005 record Confessions on a Dance Floor. Instead of a traditional press tour, she filmed a roundtable-style video with playwright Jeremy O. Harris, Bob The Drag Queen, dancer Ivy Mugler, designer Raul Lopez, and i-D Global Beauty Editor Marcello Gutierrez — a mix of queer artists and tastemakers suited to the Grindr platform, per Us Magazine.

The questions in the video ranged from playful to pointed. The JFK Jr. answer has naturally dominated the coverage since the clip began circulating Thursday, per Just Jared. No release date for Confessions II has been announced.

The post Madonna Says JFK Jr. Was the Best Sex of Her Life — With One Very Madonna Caveat appeared first on Cream.

• Olivia Rodrigo, 23, pushed back against online criticism of her babydoll dress looks in a new interview on The New York Times’ Popcast, calling the reaction “really disturbing” and saying it shows “how we really normalize pedophilia in our culture”
• The backlash began after she wore a pink-and-blue minidress in her “Drop Dead” music video and escalated when she wore a Génération78 babydoll dress at Spotify’s Billions Club Live concert in Barcelona on May 8 — critics described the looks as “infantilizing” and accused her of wearing “sexualized children’s clothing”
• Rodrigo pointed out the double standard directly: “I have worn outfits that are revealing on stage. I’ve been on stage in a sparkly bra and little shorts… and that wasn’t inappropriate, but me fully covered up in a dress that people deem to be childlike was inappropriate”
• Per Complex, she connected the criticism to riot grrrl fashion history and broader patterns of how society sexualizes young girls, calling those reactions “freak” reactions
• “Drop Dead” is from her forthcoming third album You Seem Pretty Sad

Olivia Rodrigo has had enough. The “Drivers License” singer spent part of a new New York Times Popcast interview addressing the months-long online debate over her babydoll dresses — and she didn’t hold back.

The controversy started in April when Rodrigo wore a pink-and-blue minidress in the video for “Drop Dead,” a single from her upcoming third album You Seem Pretty Sad. It intensified after she performed at Spotify’s Billions Club Live concert in Barcelona on May 8 in a Génération78 babydoll dress and knee-high black boots — a look that set off a fresh wave of takes, with some describing the outfit as that of a “sexualized child” and others writing things like “A grown woman wearing children’s clothes… she keeps giving me the ick.”

Rodrigo’s response, recorded for an upcoming Popcast episode and previewed widely this week, was pointed. “That’s been making me so upset,” she told Us Magazine. “Not even for me. People can say whatever they want.”

‘Fully Covered Up… Was Inappropriate’

What bothered her, she said, was the logic the critics were applying. “What’s really disturbing is I have worn outfits that are revealing on stage,” Rodrigo continued, per Newsweek. “I’ve been on stage in a sparkly bra and little shorts, which is my right — that’s fun, I felt cool and comfortable in that. And that wasn’t inappropriate, but me fully covered up in a dress that people deemed to be childlike was inappropriate.” She said the pattern was “really disturbing” and added: “It really shows how we really normalize pedophilia in our culture.”

Per Complex, she tied the reaction to riot grrrl fashion — a deliberately transgressive, anti-sexualization aesthetic with deep roots in ’90s punk and feminist music — and to broader double standards in how young women’s bodies get policed and interpreted regardless of what they actually wear. The framing, she suggested, says more about the critics than it does about the dress.

The post Olivia Rodrigo Fires Back at Babydoll Dress Critics: ‘It Really Shows How We Normalize Pedophilia in Our Culture’ appeared first on Cream.