Elton John, a Trump favorite, performs at the Biden White House


“It will marginalize people,” Mr. John told the Mic news site in the summer of 2016. “He’s already doing that.” The warning was prescient: after Mr. Trump’s election victory, his administration moved aggressively to suppress the rights of people in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

“I haven’t been a Republican for a million years,” John told the Guardian in early 2016 about the use of his music at Trump rallies. “Why not ask Ted Nugent?” he said of the far-right musician, adding an expletive.

Yet somehow Mr. John was one of the few celebrities capable of publicly dismissing Mr. Trump and not receiving a nuclear-grade Twitter slur in response. Despite being rejected, Mr. Trump has remained a fan, so much so that John’s music has been awkwardly linked to one of the most geopolitically volatile situations facing the Trump administration.

Mr Trump called Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, “Little Rocket Man”. To prove to Mr. Kim that this was much more of a pet name than an insult, Mr. Trump ordered his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to personally deliver a “Honky Castle” CD to the dictator.

“Getting this CD to Kim remained a high priority for several months,” John Bolton, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, wrote in his memoir.

After spending several years with his music playing in Mr. Trump’s political windmill, Mr. John, who is 75, seems determined to get his music back and reaffirm his support for the communities that Mr. Trump and his supporters have slandered .

Michael Feeney, a spokesman for A+E Networks and The History Channel, two networks paying for the event on Friday night, said he worked with Mr John’s team to plan the event, which took place primarily through discussions with East Wing officials. The public broadcast only included one song, the 1970 hit “Your Song”. He is due to perform a sold-out concert at Nationals Park on Saturday.