Singer Jennifer Holliday pulls out of Trump's inauguration after hearing from heartbroken LGBTQ fans

By Fusion Staff  |  January 14, 2017 | 9:41pm
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Just days after legendary Broadway star Jennifer Holliday was named a performer in Donald Trump’s pre-inauguration concert, the Tony and Grammy Award winner announced she will no longer be participating after hearing from “heartbroken” fans.

In an open letter published by The Wrap, the “Dreamgirls” star called her initial decision to perform a “lapse of judgement,” and explained how an article by The Daily Beast, which was headlined “Jennifer Holliday Will Perform at Trump’s Inauguration, Which Is Heartbreaking to Gay Fans,” convinced her to distance herself from the January 19 event, dubbed the Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration.

“I was honestly just thinking that I wanted my voice to be a healing and unifying force for hope through music to help our deeply polarized country,” Holliday wrote. “Regretfully, I did not take into consideration that my performing for the concert would actually instead be taken as a political act against my own personal beliefs and be mistaken for support of Donald Trump and Mike Pence.”

Holliday continued, “My only choice must now be to stand with the LGBT community and to state unequivocally that I WILL NOT PERFORM FOR THE WELCOME CONCERT OR FOR ANY OF THE INAUGURATION FESTIVITIES.”

Trump’s inauguration committee has had some difficulty attracting top talent. Members of The Rockettes have been racked with indecision about whether to participate in the inauguration, and at least one member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir chose to resign rather than take part.

3 Doors Down, Toby Keith, and Lee Greenwood are among the acts slated to perform in events around Trump’s inauguration.

 
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