MAGA Festival Featuring Kid Rock Canceled Over Poor VIP Ticket Sales - Newsweek
A conservative political event set to feature Kid Rock has been canceled after organizers blamed disappointing VIP ticket sales.
Eric Deters, the organizer of Freedom Fest in Kentucky, said in a video on Facebook on Monday: "I am never ever, ever, ever, ever doing this event again."
The event, which Deters, 63, calls the "best MAGA event," has previously drawn crowds of thousands to his Morning View farm in northern Kentucky, featuring conservative speakers, live music, food, kids entertainment, fireworks.
This year’s lineup was set to include Kid Rock, Republican Ed Gallrein, Representative James Comer and Fox News contributor Joe Concha.
Newsweek reached out to Deters via email for comment.
Former attorney and 2023 GOP gubernatorial candidate Eric Deters started Freedom Fest in 2022. An event staged at his Kentucky farm, the conservative gathering quickly drew national Republican figures including Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Candace Owens.
The event did not take place in 2023, but returned in 2024 and has since drawn crowds of thousands.
In a fiery video on Facebook, Deters placed the blame for the cancelation firmly on one thing—lack of VIP ticket sales.
Deters said he expected around 100 affluent acquaintances and business contacts to help support the event by purchasing $1,000 VIP tickets, but learned on Monday that only six VIP tickets had been sold.
"When I put together Patriot State Freedom Fest, I put it together with the game plan and the idea that I could pay for it with the VIP sales of $1,000 from these hundred people that I interact with on a regular basis that have money,” Deters said.
But when he discovered how many tickets had sold, he was forced to end the event entirely.
"It's Monday morning. I got my guy who's setting up the ticket sales ... I said how many have bought a ticket? And he said, you can't make this up. Are you ready for the drum roll? Only six people had bought a VIP ticket,” he said.
Deters went on to share his upset over the lack of sales, blaming the people he expected to support him with the event.
"Out of all these people that have money that I interact with, who I do favors for all day long. They ask me for something, I never say no. I never said no to these people,” he said, vowing to cut ties with the people who he felt let him down.
“None of these people will ever, ever, ever get a favor from me again, ever. Not only will they never get a favor from me again, they do not have Bulldog immunity,” he said.
Deters seemed to make his feelings clear about the future of the festival, saying: “I'm never gonna do this event. Somebody else can do such an event."
He added that he felt relieved amid the cancelation. “I'm sorry for all the people that were gonna attend. But I can tell you right now, I feel great relief that I ain't gonna put this burden all by myself," he said.
In another video shared hours later on Facebook, Deters criticized media coverage of the cancelation. "There's even national media picking up this story as if it was a failed event for lack of support. No. The MAGA supporters always support this event, always turn out... The issue was simply paying for the damn event because I make it free,” he said.
