PoliticsActor Dean Cain Exposed for Attempting to Sell Donald Trump's Fair as a Smash in Awkward Moment
Dean Cain raved over the Great American State Fair despite the sparse crowds.
June 30 2026, Updated 6:31 p.m. ET
Former Superman actor Dean Cain was widely ridiculed online after posting a Ferris wheel photo from President Donald Trump's Great American State Fair that accidentally exposed a sparse, low-turnout crowd.
The viral incident unfolded over the weekend during the White House-backed event held on the National Mall to mark America’s 250th anniversary.
Hoping to hype up the celebration, the ardent Trump supporter shared wide-angle aerial photos on X with the caption: "View from atop the Ferris Wheel at the Great American State Fair!!" Instead of the packed, bustling spectacle organizers intended, the images revealed massive, empty stretches of open grass between pavilions with only scattered clusters of visitors.
Dean Cain's photo of the event showed an empty lawn.
The social media posts quickly backfired, as critics and political commentators seized on the visual evidence and obvious lack of a crowd.
Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger mocked the image on social media, suggesting the photo highlighted "all 6 people" there. Kinzinger argued the fair had devolved into a celebration of Trump rather than America.
The actor claimed the party looked emptier than it was because people were inside tents due to the weather.
Appearing later on Fox News and responding online, Cain, who, in 2025, joined U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as an honorary officer to support the agency's immigration enforcement and mass deportation agenda, dubiously defended the turnout.
He claimed "thousands of people" were there, arguing that the photo was only a partial view and that many attendees were seeking shelter inside white exhibition tents or staying off the grass due to extreme heat.
“There are tons of people here, it’s a huge space, and it’s just going to get more and more crowded as the week goes on,” Cain said in a video.
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Dean Cain called the criticism 'anti-American.'
He dismissed the backlash as politically motivated and "anti-American.”
“Everybody was like, oh, there’s nobody there; there’s tons of people around here. And it’s going to get more and more crowded,” Cain insisted. “But that’s divisive. I was trying to be, you know, unifying towards people. Look how great this is in our nation’s Capitol.”
The fair’s rocky start has become a major flashpoint for political optics. While the administration asserted that tens of thousands packed the kickoff events, independent journalists, onlookers and subsequent live broadcasts — including a live pan to the audience while Cain appeared alongside Dr. Mehmet Oz — have continually highlighted empty bleachers and sparse lawns.
Who Performed at the Event?
Nearly all of the scheduled performers dropped out of the event.
The fair has also faced artist cancellations and weather disruptions since opening.
The entertainment lineup for the fair collapsed weeks before the event began. Numerous headline acts abruptly dropped out after discovering that the event was organized by Freedom 250, a pro-Trump nonprofit, rather than by the bipartisan congressional America250 committee.
The lone participant, one-hit-wonder Vanilla Ice, had his performance canceled allegedly due to weather, though some critics say it was because of an embarrassingly low turnout.
Trump futilely tried to defend his buzzkill of a bash, posting on Truth Social Monday morning, “Do you think people appreciate what a fantastic job we did in building and operating the Great American State Fair at the National Mall, packed with happy people, and everybody loving it? Ask yourself this simple question, ‘DO YOU THINK THAT OBUMA OR SLEEPY JOE BIDEN COULD HAVE DONE IT?’ THE ANSWER IS NO!”
