NEWS'The View' Mocks Donald Trump's Freedom 250 Concert After Artists Flee Lineup
‘The View’ opened the show with music from a withdrawn performer.
June 4 2026, Published 6:29 p.m. ET
The View turned Donald Trump’s troubled Freedom 250 concert into a full-on set piece Monday, opening the show by dancing to music from artists viewers apparently will not hear at the troubled celebration.
All five co-hosts entered to Young MC’s “Bust a Move,” with the studio audience standing and clapping along. The song choice was pointed: Young MC is one of several performers who backed out of the Great American State Fair after learning the event would not be as politically neutral as they thought it would be.
Whoopi Goldberg Sets the Tone
Whoopi Goldberg highlighted the concert’s growing troubles.
“So that was ‘Bust a Move’ by Young MC, one of the many artists you will not be hearing at the 250th anniversary celebration on the National Mall,” Whoopi Goldberg said as the audience applauded.
She then listed other departed acts, including The Commodores, Martina McBride and Poison frontman Bret Michaels. Six of the nine musicians announced as headliners for the Freedom 250 festivities have reportedly withdrawn.
Several headliners canceled their concert appearance.
Michaels, who pulled out Friday, said his shows “have never been about politics. They’re about giving people a place to come together.”
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A ‘Nonpartisan’ Event Turns Political
The hosts criticized the celebration’s political turn.
Goldberg also played a clip of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on CNN’s State of the Union, where Dana Bash pressed him on Trump’s suggestion that the concert be replaced with a “Make America Great Again” rally.
Burgum argued that any president would naturally play a major role in a national anniversary celebration. Bash pushed back, noting that Trump’s proposed event used the name of his political movement.
“Child, I mean he was dancing as quick as he can,” Goldberg joked. She argued that artists were put in an unfair position.
“Bret Michaels, who plays for everybody, and The Commodores, who play for everybody — I mean, Martina McBride is not a politicized person,” Goldberg said. “Y’all made it political because you made it into something it was not supposed to be, and you didn’t tell the artists.”
When 'The View' Is Easier to Share Than the News
Co-hosts mocked the event.
“The View is an openly progressive political show masquerading as a morning coffee chat, and that masquerade is exactly why their clips travel further than a cable news monologue ever does,” said Aaron Evans, President of strategic communications firm Story Group.
“The audience that would never share a Rachel Maddow segment will absolutely share a Whoopi reaction shot, because it feels like gossip with friends, not a partisan attack,” he explained.
Alyssa Farah Griffin summed up the panel’s view bluntly: “When Trump’s involved, it becomes partisan.”
Sunny Hostin agreed the key issue was disclosure, suggesting Trump’s name may have been avoided in negotiations because he had become so “toxic.”
“And I love this for Trump,” Hostin said. “I love it for him.”
