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Donald Trump claims 'A-list celebrities' are desperate for inauguration tickets, despite lack of star performers

President-elect says he does not want celebrities at his ceremony, just 'the people'

Olivia Blair
Friday 23 December 2016 12:45 GMT
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Donald Trump
Donald Trump

The build-up to Donald Trump's inauguration, which is now less than a month away, has been plagued with reports of difficulties securing performers for the historic event.

At Barack Obama's 2008 inauguration, Beyonce sang a rousing rendition of Etta James’ “At Last” while Aretha Franklin wowed the crowds with her iconic vocals. Various celebrities were spotted amongst the huge crowds.

So far, Mr Trump has confirmed America’s Got Talent runner-up Jackie Evancho, the Radio City Rockettes dance group and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Sir Elton John, Celine Dion and reportedly Andrea Bocelli have all denied rumours they would perform at the event with Sir Elton clarifying: “It is completely untrue.”

Despite the very public distancing of high-profile celebrities from Mr Trump and his inauguration, the President-elect is giving another version of events on Twitter claiming that, actually, they are all desperately vying for tickets.

In another middle-of-the-night Twitter outburst, he also claimed that despite the supposed interest from these celebrities, he does not want them there anyway – he just wants “the people”.

Reports that the Trump administration is struggling to find celebrities to attend the event are unsurprising given that high-profile endorsements were an area where Mr Trump fell short throughout his entire presidential campaign.

His rival Hillary Clinton regularly wheeled out the likes of Katy Perry, LeBron James and Bruce Springsteen at campaigns and also had Beyonce and Jay Z perform at a concert for her just a week before the election.

Mr Trump, on the other hand, relied on the public support of people including veteran actor Jon Voight and former Happy Days actor Scott Baio.

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