It's been a bit of a manhunt to track down some star power for Donald Trump's upcoming inauguration on Friday (January 20), but it sounds like Kanye West was not invited to serve up some entertainment because he isn't "traditionally American" enough, or so says Tom Barrack Jr., chairman of the Presidential Inauguration Committee.
Earlier this week, Barrack spoke to CNN's Erin Burnett about the forthcoming event and revealed that the hip-hop titan just wasn't the right fit for the venue. "We haven't asked him. He's been great. He considers himself a friend of the President-elect, but it's not the venue," he admitted. "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. We move on with our agenda."
Considering Yeezy has shared his support for the President-elect and even met up with him at Trump Tower to discuss "multicultural issues" in December, you'd think the rapper would have at least met the bar for Trump.
West, who didn't vote in last November's election, told a San Jose, California crowd that he didn't have any objections to Trump's win. "This is about the idea of a black guy liking Trump," he admitted. "They thought they had me because…just because I was black or just because I was a celebrity. But Trump is our president. And that would've been my vote, so I feel right."
Regardless, Barrack said that booking high-profile celebrities wasn't a goal for the upcoming inauguration anyways. "We have the opportunity to have many A-list celebrities, which is what the issue was," he told CNN. "The directive from the president-elect was simple: make it great, make it for the people, and we have three of the greatest celebrities in the world here already. We have President Obama, No. 1 celebrity in the world as it exists today. We have this, Washington, D.C., which is a stage that is incomparable to anywhere in the world. And we have the president-elect, Donald Trump, who is certainly on everybody’s list as one of the top celebrities in the world."
Photo: Getty Images