Even after famously meeting with Donald Trump last month, and even after Trump has had an historically difficult time finding A-list musicians willing to debase themselves enough to perform at his inauguration, the planning committee said no to Kanye West as its star or anything else, and the reason is incredibly racist. He s not  traditionally American  enough. What in heaven s name could that mean, hmmmm?A spokesperson for president-elect Donald Trump s inauguration committee told CNN that Friend of Donald Kanye West was not invited to perform at the real estate mogul s inaugural because  Ye s music wasn t right for the  typically and traditionally American event.  Tom Barrack, chairman of the Presidential Inauguration Committee, told CNN s Erin Burnett that the inauguration wasn t a  fitting  venue for West, who famously met with Trump in December and posed for a stiff photo at Trump Tower afterwards and whose music is about to be the subject of a course at Washington University in St. Louis called  Politics of Kanye West: Black Genius and Sonic Aesthetics. He s been great, he considers himself a friend of the president-elect, but it s not the venue.  Kanye, who was born in Chicago and performs a style of music, hip-hop, that was invented in the United States on the streets of Trump s New York in the late 1970s, performed at MTV s Inaugural Youth Ball in honor of President Obama in 2009.  It s going to be typically and traditionally American, and Kanye is a great guy, we just haven t asked him to perform. And we move on with our agenda,  Barrack added.Source: BillboardHere s the video:Damn @kanyewest couldn t even get to perform at this friend @realDonaldTrump s inauguration b/c the event is  Traditionally American . pic.twitter.com/wu3EezncR2  Unstripped Voice (@UnstrippedVoice) January 18, 2017Looking over the list of inaugural entertainers, it s clear that  typically and traditionally American  means white, with a few exceptions. Most are country artists. There are a couple of African-American R&B singers, there s Travis Green, and there s an Indian-American DJ named RaviDrums. To give that extra-American oomph, Trump s ball will feature Irish dance.Trump may have done West a favor. After expressing his theoretical support for Trump (he didn t actually vote, but if he had voted ), West was forced to cancel his tour. We ll see if the D-list acts they ve managed to book suffer the same fates, assuming they re popular enough to currently be on tour.Featured image by Drew Angerer via Getty Images.