The country’s days removed from the swearing in of its new President. Yet, singer Chrisette Michele, perhaps more than any other performer, is still explaining her decision to take part in the inauguration ceremonies. As she continues to make the media rounds, her latest stop including an on-air appearance on Power 105’s The Breakfast Club where she spoke on her Trump ties along with comments directed at her by Spike Lee and Questlove.
Michele’s been very outspoken about the blowback she’s received from the black community and from her family, who she claims disowned her in the wake of the event, even though her hope was “to be a bridge” between the new administration and all the people who have felt left out in campaign promises and slogans. In fact, she reveals she didn’t hesitate to accept the invite for one second, even though her manager initially did, because she feels like it was important because “I needed them to see us.”
At one point during the conversation, host Charlamagne suggests that it may have been wiser to wait to see how Trump approaches the black community while in office, after running “a campaign of hate for 18 months.” Michele said there’s no time to sit back to see what will happen.
“I’m afraid to wait because I don’t know what he’s going to do tomorrow,” she said. “I don’t know if my small black business is gonna count as ‘buy American’ tomorrow. I don’t know where I fit in.” When co-host Angela Yee responds to the latter statement by asking the singer why she didn’t choose to take part in the Women’s March instead, Michele’s reply was succinct: “Because they don’t invite d-list celebrities.”
Michele describes Spike Lee’s recent comments that he would be removing her music from his upcoming Netflix series as “disappointing, more than hurtful” and suggests “I’d much rather have a conversation than a tweet.” She also rebutted Questlove’s remark that he would pay her not to perform at the inauguration by saying “I would’ve paid him to perform.” That led into the topic of whether or not being paid a healthy sum influenced her decision. “If Questlove, who I’ve worked with on his music, doesn’t know that I didn’t go there for money, then we don’t know each other,” she said. “None of us know each other.”
Watch the full interview above.
