Pete Evick, the longtime guitarist for Poison frontman Bret Michaels, delivered a profanity-laced broadside this week against fans who abandoned Mr. Michaels after he withdrew from the Freedom 250 concert series on the National Mall — a rebuke that cuts to the heart of how politically polarized America has made life nearly impossible for entertainers caught in the middle.

Six of the nine originally announced performers — Morris Day, Young MC, Martina McBride, Mr. Michaels, Milli Vanilli and the Commodores — withdrew from the concert series, which was organized as part of the Great American State Fair running June 25 through July 10 to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary. C+C Music Factory, Vanilla Ice and Flo Rida remained on the bill. 

Mr. Michaels announced after midnight Friday that he would no longer perform, saying what had been presented to him as a celebration of the country had “evolved into something much more divisive” than what he had agreed to. Most of the departing artists said they had been misled about the nonpartisan nature of the event, which was founded by President Trump and is headed by a Trump State Department appointee from his first term. 

The exits infuriated Mr. Evick, who unloaded on social media in a lengthy post directed at fans he said had betrayed a personal relationship. He told those who had accepted free tickets, backstage access, meet-and-greets, charitable favors and personal phone calls to sick relatives — and who had now turned on the singer — to “f—- off,” adding: “I’m not saying you have to openly support him. But those that called us friends four days ago and have used and abused us and have now turned on us: f—- off.”

Mr. Evick also argued that concerns about terrorism, not politics, drove the decision.

“I’m simply not leading my friends and family into a possible terrorist attack,” he wrote, pointing to U.S. hostilities with Iran as the more credible threat. He said he had personally decided not to play the show before it was even publicly announced — though that account is his own and has not been independently verified.

The guitarist went on to detail what he described as Mr. Michaels’ two-decade record of military charity work — performing for troops in the Middle East, helping build homes for veterans, donating to veterans’ organizations and honoring service members on stage — and questioned why a single concert decision would erase that history in fans’ minds.

“There is/was no winning this,” Mr. Evick wrote. “Unless you’re Kid Rock, you play this event, you lose half your fans; you don’t play, you lose the other half.”

The backlash arrived from both directions simultaneously. Fans on the left condemned artists for agreeing to perform; fans aligned with the president condemned them for pulling out. The pattern repeated across nearly every act on the bill.

Mr. Trump accelerated the chaos when he dismissed the departing performers as “highly paid, Third Rate ’Artists’” and suggested on Truth Social that the concert series be scrapped altogether in favor of a MAGA rally. He proposed replacing the concerts with “a giant MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for 250, instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring.” Freedom 250 subsequently announced that Mr. Trump would personally open the Great American State Fair with a ceremony on June 24.