The list of celebrities who will be heading to Washington for Donald Trump’s inauguration so far includes Gloria Steinem, Harry Belafonte, and former America’s Got Talent star Jackie Evancho. Unfortunately for the president-elect, the majority of those people will be in the U.S. capital to protest rather than perform.
Trump has been facing an “unpresidented” amount of difficulty booking talent for his inaugural ball, and as the number of days leading up to January 20 gets smaller, the number of people who have RSVPd “No” is getting a lot longer. The latest to join its ranks is U.K. singer Rebecca Ferguson — unless she’s allowed to sing one particular song. The X Factor star has said that she will agree to perform if Team Trump permits her to sing “Strange Fruit,” a powerful anti-racism protest song originally written by Abel Meeropol in 1937 to condemn the lynching of African Americans. Two years later the song was performed and recorded by Billie Holiday, whose version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978. Another version was recorded by Nina Simone and sampled by Kanye West in “Blood on the Leaves.”
“I’ve been asked and this is my answer,” Ferguson wrote on Twitter. “If you allow me to sing ‘Strange Fruit,’ a song that has huge historical importance, a song that was blacklisted in the United States for being too controversial. A song that speaks to all the disregarded and down trodden black people in the United States. A song that is a reminder of how love is the only thing that will conquer all the hatred in this world, then I will graciously accept your invitation and see you in Washington.”
The reason behind Ferguson’s song selection is pretty obvious: Trump is a categorical racist who has been endorsed by the KKK. So far he hasn’t agreed to Ferguson’s proviso, but don’t rule it out: our next president isn’t the best judge of what is and what definitely isn’t a compliment.
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Text Hannah Ongley
Image via Twitter