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Trump Desperately Wants Celebs At Inauguration

by Lani Seelinger
Drew Angerer/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Filling up the political posts has been one problem for the president-elect; filling up the inauguration performance slots seems to be entirely another. Donald Trump's tweet about A-list celebrities wanting tickets to the inauguration is just more evidence of how his narcissistic brain works, when you put it together with the reports of how difficult it's been to find celebrities willing to perform at the event.

As attorney Andrew Weinstein pointed out in a tweet, this is a person who is seriously desperate to be liked — and yet it's pretty clear that the people whose approval he's looking for want nothing to do with him.

Trump has so far managed to cobble together a list of three artists willing to perform on Inauguration Day. The first to sign on was Jackie Evancho, who was the runner-up on America's Got Talent in 2010. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir confirmed their attendance next, and then the news broke on Thursday that the Rockettes would also be performing. Those three will at least fill up some time, but they leave a serious A-list-celebrity-shaped hole in Trump's inauguration plans.

His tweet is pretty solid proof that he realizes that he just can't seem to find anyone interested in coming to his party.

What he has found are plenty of A-listers and others expressing their abject desire not to come to his party. As John Legend put it, "Creative people tend to reject bigotry and hatred. ... [I]t's unlikely that he'll get a lot of creative people who want to be associated with him."

Idina Menzel had another idea for Trump, telling Vanity Fair that she thinks "it's karma, baby. ... Maybe he’ll just have to sing something himself. He probably thinks he has a great voice; he thinks he does everything great."

Others who have reportedly turned down the opportunity to celebrate the new president's ascension to the White House are Celine Dion, Garth Brooks, Elton John, and Gene Simmons. The Wrap reported last week that the Inaugural Committee had offered diplomatic positions to talent bookers who could get A-listers to sign on, although a spokesman for the Inaugural Committee has denied this, saying that "first-class entertainers are eager to participate in the inaugural events."

No offense to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but the committee still hasn't exactly produced any proof that a single first-class entertainer has shown a shred of evidence in playing. On the other hand, many of them have said no, denying Trump the one thing that he craves most of all: the approval of the rich and famous.

His tweet may claim that he's more interested in having the approval of "the PEOPLE," although he doesn't give any details of which people he's referring to. What is clear, though, is that he's still bitter that the support of so many A-list celebrities went to his rival.