Rapper Nelly to perform at a Donald Trump inaugural ball
Rapper Nelly is set to perform at the Inaugural Liberty Ball on January 20 with Donald Trump in attendance.
According to sources close to the event planning, the 50-year-old artist will join the Village People and country star Jason Aldean as the entertainment for the night, CBS reported.
Nelly previously confessed he didn’t care for Trump in 2017 amid his first term. “You know the thing about Donald Trump is that I liked Donald Trump, I did, I just don’t like Donald Trump as my president,” he told Page Six at the time. “He doesn’t surprise me as a person, he surprises me as a president because you don’t expect certain things, certain attitudes.”
Indeed, the “Grillz” rapper appears to have changed his mind about a Trump presidency in 2025.
Carrie Underwood and Christopher Macchio will perform during the swearing-in ceremony, which begins at noon ET.
The ceremony is typically held outside of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., however, the President-elect has now moved Monday’s proceedings inside to avoid below-freezing temperatures.
According to Monday’s weather projections, high temperatures are expected to be in the low 20s, cementing the inauguration as the coldest ceremony in over 40 years since Ronald Reagan’s was held indoors.
“I have ordered the Inauguration Address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the United States Capitol Rotunda, as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985, also because of very cold weather,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday (January 17).
“The weather forecast for Washington, D.C., with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows. There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way. It is dangerous conditions for the tens of thousands of Law Enforcement, First Responders, Police K9s and even horses, and hundreds of thousands of supporters that will be outside for many hours on the 20th (In any event, if you decide to come, dress warmly!),” he wrote, adding: “This will be a very beautiful experience for all, and especially for the large TV audience!”
Dignitaries and invited guests will join Trump inside. Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush, and Bill Clinton are slated to attend alongside Laura Bush and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Trump is also set to attend the Make America Great Again Victory Rally in D.C. on January 19, with musical guests Kid Rock, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Liberty University’s Praise Choir taking the stage.
The rally will be held at the Capitol One Arena in Chinatown, where a swearing-in ceremony viewing party will also be organized the following day.
There are numerous balls in the days around the inauguration, and the new president usually attends a handful.