Given all the unexpected news that 2020 brought, perhaps this phrase shouldn’t be surprising: the Beach Boys and Vanilla Ice played for a maskless crowd at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on New Year’s Eve.
The Daily Beast reported that Trump himself did not attend the festivities in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, but Donald Trump Jr. with his partner Kimberly Guilfoyle attended the show, as did Eric and Lara Trump, Rudy Giuliani and Congressman Matt Gaetz. They were all part of a group of about 500 people who filled a ballroom with an admission cost of up to $ 1,000.
Based on the footage from the evening, the participants appeared not to have worn masks.
Donald Trump Jr. was also celebrating his 43rd birthday last night. He shared a video on Facebook with the following message: “Okay, this is amazing. Vanilla Ice is playing at the Mar-a-Lago New Year’s party. As a child of the 90s, you can’t imagine how amazing this is. Besides, I got the birthday message, this is incredible. “
Not everyone was as enthusiastic as Don Jr. Comedian Bridget Phetasy, for example, was not impressed by the star’s presence at the event. On Twitter, she said that watching rapper “Ice Ice Baby” on New Year’s Eve was “rock bottom”.
Watching Vanilla Ice in the new year is rock bottom.
– Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) January 1, 2021
Screenwriter Randi Mayem Singer (Mrs. Doubtfire) also questioned the value of putting your health at risk “to dance badly to the sound of Vanilla Ice and a Beach Boy”.
Like many others, Singer was referring to the fact that it was not a version of the classic Beach Boys lineup at the event. Instead, it was the current incarnation led by Trump supporter Mike Love, minus Brian Wilson, the genius often quoted behind the group’s creative heyday.
Comedian / actor John Fugelsang saw some similarities between Love and Trump, noting that people who think Love is the Beach Boys also believe that Trump is the president.
And that concludes my Ted Talk about how people who think Mike Love is the Beach Boys also believe Donald Trump is a president https://t.co/LM7nJ5gpUj
– John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) January 1, 2021
One writer commented when referring to the success of the Beach Boys in the 1980s, “Kokomo”.
While many people joked about the event, actor Kirk Acevedo expressed anger at the apparent carelessness of those who attended.
LMFAO!
Would you really risk dying from Covid on New Year’s Eve, just 2 to see Vanilla Ice live in Mar-a-lago?
APPARENTLY MANY REPUBLICANS AND NO ONE WOULD USE A MASK.
WHILE 3,540 AMERICANS DIE ON NEW YEAR’S EVE.
Fantastic leadership🙄#KidVicious🤦🏻♂️
– Kirk Acevedo🇺🇸 (@kirkacevedo) January 1, 2021
The political divisions between Love and his former bandmates date back some time. In 2020, the other two original living members of the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson and Al Jardine, expressed dismay at Variety through a spokesman for Mike Love’s Beach Boys as the headliner of a charity campaign for Trump in Newport Beach, California.
In February, Wilson and Jardine publicly announced that they had signed a Change.org petition calling for a boycott of the Beach Boys after Love agreed to play at the Safari Club International Convention. Donald Trump Jr. was the keynote speaker at the same event in Reno, Nevada.
Newsweek he contacted the White House, Mike Love and Vanilla Ice for comment, but there was no response at the time of publication.
Scott Dudelson / Getty