Add “Patriots Day” star Alex Wolff to the list of people who won’t be performing at Donald Trump’s inauguration.
“No f—ing way,” Wolff told TheWrap during an interview for the upcoming film about the Boston Marathon bombing, in which he plays bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. “I’m not going to elaborate further because I know when to be tight-lipped, but no f—ing way.”
Wolff and his brother Nat (also an actor who has starred in “Paper Towns” and “The Fault in Our Stars”) are a pop music duo who have released four full-length albums and have a new one coming out Friday. They have not been approached by the Trump team to perform at the inauguration, but TheWrap is asking several celebrities if they would appear if asked.
Why? Because Trump’s team has struggled to find talent outside of the low-wattage stars who endorsed him during the campaign.
TheWrap exclusively Wednesday that Trump’s team is struggling so hard to book A-list performers for his inaugural festivities that two talent bookers said they were offered ambassadorships if they could deliver marquee names. The inauguration team has its sights set on top-tier talents like Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and Aretha Franklin, and were willing to pay steep fees for the performers.
A meeting between Trump and Kanye West spurred speculation Tuesday that the the troubled rapper might perform. On Wednesday, news broke that Trump’s team had managed to enlist 16-year-old former “America’s Got Talent” star Jackie Evancho. And earlier this week, the New York Post reported that Italian singer Andrea Bocelli has been personally approached by Trump to perform at the inauguration.
Last month, The New York Times reported that a representative for Elton John, who supported Hillary Clinton, issued a stern statement denying his client had agreed to perform at the inauguration after a member of Trump’s transition team said the “Rocket Man” singer would take the stage. Garth Brooks is also out.
In a statement to TheWrap, Trump’s team denied offering any ambassadorships. “There is no truth to this insinuation,” said committee spokesman Boris Epshteyn. “First-class entertainers are eager to participate in the inaugural events. The inauguration as a whole will be an exciting and uniting celebration of freedom and democracy. We will be releasing further details at the appropriate time.”
Apparently, the “eager” entertainers don’t include Wolff.