Andrea Bocelli Will Not Perform At Trump Inauguration Ceremony

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli joins a long list of performers who will not be singing at Donald Trump‘s inauguration in January.

ANDREA BOCELLI WILL NOT PERFORM AT TRUMP INAUGURATION

According to the New York Post‘s Page Six column, the singer declined to perform in order to avoid backlash from Trump’s opponents. Trump has always been a fan of Bocelli’s, however, according to Trump’s inaugural committee chairman Thomas J. Barrack, Jr., Bocelli offered to sing and Trump turned him down.

“The Bocellis came to him and said, ‘Look, if it would be helpful to you, if you would like us to perform, we would consider it,’” said Barrack. “And Donald said: ‘You don’t need to. We’re not in that kind of a framework. Thanks very much for the offer. You’re my friend. You are always welcome at the White House.’” A representative for Bocelli has yet to comment.

The only confirmed performer at the inauguration so far is 16-year-old Jackie Evancho, a classical prodigy who gained fame on America’s Got Talent. Elton John clarified that he would definitely not perform for Trump, after hearing someone on the president-elect’s transition team suggest that the British star would.

In addition, this past summer Luciano Pavarotti‘s family had to insist the Trump campaign not use his “Nessun Dorma” recording as a campaign song – “The values of brotherhood and solidarity which Luciano Pavarotti expressed throughout the course of his artistic career are entirely incompatible with the worldview offered by the candidate Donald Trump.”