On Monday, January 20, 2025 at approximately 12 p.m. EST, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. Throughout the inauguration ceremony and the rest of the day’s festivities, several musicians will take the stage to perform the National Anthem, “America, the Beautiful” and several other songs of American significance.
Many Inauguration Day acts have long since announced their support of the former reality show host, others have remained neutral or been outright critical in their assessment of the New York native. Most notably, Rick Ross and Snoop Dogg received backlash for performing at the Crypto Ball in Washington, D.C. on Friday, January 17. While Trump was not present, several notable figures who have publicly expressed their support for the President-Elect were in attendance, including UFC mixed martial artist Colby Covington and Trump’s crypto czar David Sacks. More recently, Nelly received backlash after he was confirmed as a performer at Monday evening’s Inaugural Liberty Ball.
“Any Black rapper or entertainer who performs at Trump’s inauguration dishonors the Black families he refused to rent to in the 1970s, the Black and brown kids he wanted to execute for a crime they did not commit in the Central Park case in the 1980s, the Black casino workers he mistreated in the 1990s the Black president he lied about in the 2000s, the Black NFL players he attacked as president, the Black election workers in Atlanta he targeted when he lost in 2020, and the Black Haitian immigrants he lied about in the 2024 election,” said New York Times best-selling author Keith Boykin.
In response to some of the criticism aimed in their direction, Nelly and others have offered a defense to their decision to performing at Inauguration Day events. Nelly recently told Willie D that he’s not in Washington, D.C. “to take up for Trump” and that he’s “honored to be out there performing for the Office.”
“I’m not a politician man, you didn’t see me out there on the campaign. You didn’t see me out there saying you should vote for this candidate,” Nelly said.
As Inauguration Day begins, here’s a list of the performing artists expected to take the stage at events celebrating the Trump-Vance administration, according to T47Inaugural.com.
The Swearing-In Ceremony
- Carrie Underwood
- Christopher Macchio
- Lee Greenwood
The Make America Great Again Victory Rally
- Kid Rock
- The Village People
- Billy Ray Cyrus
- Lee Greenwood
- Liberty University’s Praise Choir
The Liberty Ball
- Jason Aldean
- The Village People
- Special Musical Guest (Reportedly, Nelly)
The Commander-In-Chief Ball
- Rascal Flatts
- Parker McCollum
The Starlight Ball
- Gavin DeGraw
