Veteran Broadway singer Jennifer Holliday hit back at ignorant, misguided people within her own community who called her racial slurs for performing for President-elect Donald Trump‘s Inauguration.
The backlash from the black community was so severe that the 56-year-old Broadway star backed out of performing at the Inauguration on Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C.
In an open letter explaining her decision to cancel her performance, Jennifer apologized for her “lapse of judgment” and defended the “faithful” LGBT community who she said criticized her without calling her names.
Ms. Holliday, pictured above with GA. Rep. John Lewis, said she was taken aback by the rude and vicious comments directed at her by her own people, calling her racial slurs and threats.
In an interview on America’s MSNBC network on Sunday, she explained, “They were calling me coon, calling me house nigger, calling me Aunt Jemima, calling me all kinds of names and asking me to kill myself. And that was from the black community.”
She said the tweets from the gay community took issue with her performing but did not call her names. “Also they have been a faithful community since Dreamgirls to me, and fed me even when the church people didn’t feed me,” she explained.
She also explained her reasoning for initially agreeing to perform at the Trump celebration event, insisting she didn’t base her decision on politics.
“I wanted to sing for America and sing for the people,” she shared, noting her previous performances for U.S. presidents like Ronald Reagan, and for both George H. W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush.
Speculating about how she landed the invitation from the Trump event organizers, she added, “Maybe they were looking for, maybe, African Americans who have been friendly with Republicans.”
The crazy part is black Americans had the president they wanted for 8 years — a president who did nothing for the black community.
