Chris Cornell Drops Made In America Festival, Adds Obama Gig

Chris Cornell will not be appearing at rapper Jay-Z‘s first-ever Made in America festival in Philadelphia this weekend after all. The Soundgarden singer was on the initial line-up that Jay-Z announced for the gathering back in May, with Cornell slated to appear alongside fellow performers like Pearl Jam, Skrillex, Dirty Projectors, Passion Pit, Santigold, Miike Snow and more. But without warning or any reason cited, Cornell’s name was abruptly pulled from the final schedule on Tuesday.

Cornell’s website, meanwhile, did post a note stating that “due to a scheduling conflict Chris Cornell is unable to perform at the Made in America festival in Philadelphia on Sept. 2 as previously planned.” The following day, another post on the site revealed this new tidbit of information: “This Saturday, Sept. 1, Chris Cornell is proud to be opening for Barack Obama in Des Moines, Iowa.”

And while the seemingly sudden change of plans on Cornell’s part caused a modest backlash of angry fan comments on his site, Cornell himself quickly tried to explain the situation, offering this note on his Facebook page: “Woke up to learn some people f—ed up,” he wrote. “I pulled out of the MIA Festival 2 weeks ago. I apologize to my fans that you were not told and bought tix. I will find a resolution and get back to u.”