“Maybe the organizers couldn't anticipate the wild response” — James Taylor explains why his DNC performance was canceled despite rehearsal

Six-time Grammy Award winner James Taylor opened up about the cancellation of his DNC performance. In an Instagram post on Tuesday, August 20, the singer revealed that as the evening unfolded, it became clear that there was not going to be enough time for his performance. James Taylor wrote:

"Maybe the organizers couldn’t anticipate the wild response from the floor of the United Center…"

The 76-year-old was slated to perform a rendition of You've Got A Friend at the Democratic National Convention that took place in Chicago's United Center, on Monday, August 19, and even rehearsed for the performance which ended up not happening.

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"Sorry to disappoint"- James Taylor on his DNC performance getting cancelled

Before the Democratic National Convention took place on Monday, footage emerged on social media of James Taylor rehearsing for his performance on stage at the United Center in Chicago, with a guitar, alongside a cello player. However, when the convention finally happened, Taylor did not get to perform his rendition of Carole King's 1971 hit You've Got A Friend.

James Taylor took to his official Instagram account a day after the convention to clarify what exactly happened regarding his performance. Taylor wrote that it was exciting to see and hear many of the speakers at the opening night of the DNC. He also credited composer Rickey Minor and "terrific" singers Kenya Hathaway and Matthew Johnson for a "great rehersal" before the event.

Regarding the cancellation of his performance, the legendary musician wrote on his Instagram post:

"Lots of friends got in touch, wishing us well: Kim, Owen Young and me. But it became clear, as the evening unfolded, that there wouldn’t be time for our “You’ve Got a Friend” with cello and voices."

As mentioned, earlier James Taylor joked about the organizers not anticipating the wild response he would have recieved from Chicago and apologized to people for the disappointment. Taylor continued:

"Anyway, sorry to disappoint. But a great and inspirational, quintessentially American moment. We were honored to be there…"

According to USA Today, the Fire and Rain hitmaker was slotted to perform during the 9 p.m. programming block, also featuring the remarks from President Joe Biden's daughter Ashley Biden and first lady Jill Biden, who ushered the current President onto the stage on Monday.

However, massive delays to the programming meant that Joe Biden only took to the stage by 10:30 p.m. local time. According to a CBS News report updated on August 21, the outer security fence was breached before the event even started, leading to a delay in the start of event.

Apart from that, buses that were dropping off the delegates faced issues, ensuring further delay. A large protest was also held outside the United Center, making it difficult for people to get to one security checkpoint, which security guards at the event told CBS, was the main issue leading to the delays.

This resulted in thousands of people flocking in through the only one remaining security checkpoint. Added to all the aforementioend technical difficulties, were the lengthy speeches during the event, which further delayed proceedings. A statement from the DNC officials, as quoted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, read:

"Because of the raucous applause interrupting speaker after speaker, we ultimately skipped elements of our program to ensure we could get to President Biden as quickly as possible so that he could speak directly to the American people."

The statement further read:

"We are proud of the electric atmosphere in our convention hall and proud that our convention is showcasing the broad and diverse coalition behind the Harris-Walz ticket throughout the week on and off the stage."

James Taylor was not the only performer who was cut out from the day's programming. Congresswomen Grace Meng and former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz also had their respective parts cut out.