Stevie Wonder, Green Day, Pharrell Williams, The Lumineers and more are set to headline the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park on September 23, the festival announced Tuesday.
The star-studded event, which began in 2012 to raise funds to help eradicate global poverty, also features performances from Pharrell Williams, Big Sean, and Andra Day, all of whom have been vocal critics of President Donald Trump.
While hosting a celebrity-studded fundraising concert for Hillary Clinton last June, Stevie Wonder told the audience that the presidential election was a “fight” and said: “We cannot allow hatred to be in America ever. This is the United States of all the people, of all cultures and ethnicities. My prayer is that we understand that and don’t lose ourselves.”
Punk rock band Green Day have repeatedly bashed Trump, most recently revealing to Rolling Stone that they shout “F*ck you, Donald Trump” at every show on their nationwide tour while performing the title track from their 2004 album, “American Idiot.”
Musician Stevie Wonder performs onstage during The Art of Elysium presents Stevie Wonder’s HEAVEN – Celebrating the 10th Anniversary at Red Studios on January 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Art of Elysium)
(L-R) Musicians Billie Joe Armstrong, Tre Cool and Mike Dirnt of Green Day perform onstage during the 2016 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 20, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
During a concert ahead of Trump’s inauguration, Global Citizen headliners the Lumineers changed the lyrics to their song “Big Parade” from “Blue eyed boy United States, vote for him, the candidate” to “Blue eyed boy with real estate, I didn’t vote for him, the candidate.”
Music super-producer and singer Pharrell Williams has been a very vocal critic of President Trump. Days before the election, Williams told an audience at Variety‘s Inclusion summit that Trump’s campaign refrain, “Make America Great Again,” made him “not want to wear red white and blue for a while.”
Meanwhile, Detroit rapper Big Sean rapped about brutally murdering President Trump during a freestyle rap performance on New York radio station Hot 97 in February.
“I know Jay proud of me, he put this ’round my neck / And I might just kill ISIS with the same icepick / That I murder Donald Trump in the same night with,” Big Sean rapped.
As for the Global Citizen Festival, Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans took some not-so-subtle shots at Trump and his nationalist, America-first agenda.
“Over the last year, we’ve seen voters around the world reject the nationalism and isolationism that keeps people living in extreme poverty,” Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans said in a statement. “Now, we are calling on activists and music fans to use their voice to change the world. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be announcing this incredible lineup for Global Citizen’s annual moment of inclusion and celebration. Now more than ever, we need to ensure we work together for the world’s poor.”
The festival will be broadcast on MSNBC and MSNBC.com.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson
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