Earlier this year, we told you about the “USA Freedom Kids,” an all-girl dance troupe from Naples, Florida whose stock in trade is performing to the music of “songs that help to inspire and celebrate freedom.” They first burst onto the national spotlight at a Donald Trump rally in Pensacola. Well, it turns out that these girls have learned what many people who have worked for Trump have already learned–he’s a full-on deadbeat.
Late Monday, the Freedom Kids’ manager, Jeff Popick, announced he was suing the Trump campaign for reneging on numerous promises to let the Freedom Kids perform and sell their albums at Trump rallies. KSAZ-TV in Phoenix, whose video of the girls’ performance racked up six million hits on YouTube, discussed the suit soon after it broke. Watch here.
Popick fell in love with Trump early on; he claims to have read all of the Donald’s books and once considered him “a genius on many fronts.” But he quickly learned about Trump’s deadbeat side.
Remember that performance in Pensacola? Well, in lieu of a $2,500 payment, the Freedom Girls were supposed to get a table where they could sell advance copies of their albums. But Popick told The Washington Post that when they arrived at the Pensacola Civic Center, no table had been set up, resulting in what Popick called “complete chaos.” He’d bought a raft of promotional materials that he now couldn’t use.
Later that January, Popick got a call from a Trump campaign representative with an intriguing offer. Trump was skipping the Fox News debate to hold a fundraiser for veterans. Could the Freedom Kids come to Des Moines to perform? Even though it was only a one-day notice, Popick, whose daughter is the youngest member of the troupe, jumped at it.
But when the Freedom Kids flew from Fort Myers to Chicago, a Trump campaign representative told them they wouldn’t be performing. However, they could still attend. Popick wound up paying the Freedom Kids’ travel expenses out of his own pocket.
Over the next few months, Popick reached out “again and again and again” to the Trump campaign. However, he was bounced from one staffer to another on the occasions that he was able to get anyone on the line at all. He also sent numerous emails. In one email, dated July 9, Popick demanded a chance for the Freedom Girls to perform at the Republican National Convention–a gig that he considered “long-overdue (and has rightly been earned by us).” Failing that, he wanted “to be made whole.” They did go to Cleveland after all–but once again, Popick had to pay out of his own pocket.
After several months of “complete silence” from the Trump campaign, Popick felt his only other option was to take the campaign to court. His lawyer believes the Freedom Girls have a very good case. He said that he had a verbal agreement for either compensation or a performance. Although it was “largely a verbal contract,” he believes it’s still binding.
Popick’s story is very similar to those of others who have worked for Trump and not gotten paid for it. Like many of them, Popick got stiffed for an amount that would be little more than a rounding error on Trump’s balance sheet. What matters to Popick, however, is showing his girls that “this is the right thing.”
We knew Trump was a deadbeat. But stiffing little girls? That’s hitting way below the belt.
