LOS ANGELES, Jan. 14 (UPI) — “Dreamgirls” icon Jennifer Holliday says she has changed her mind and will no longer perform at President-elect Donald Trump‘s pre-inauguration concert next week.
Holliday, along with the rock band 3 Doors Down and country music star Toby Keith, were announced as the artists booked for Thursday’s event.
But Holliday dropped out of the lineup after receiving criticism, particularly from her fans in the LGBT community, about her decision to partake in the festivities surrounding the Republican’s swearing-in as commander-in-chief.
In an open letter published on TheWrap.com and directed to “my beloved LGBT Community,” Holliday described herself as a “bi-partisan songbird” and explained she has performed for numerous past presidents, regardless of their political party.
“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,” she 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.”
She described the decision as a “lapse in judgment” and further added “I sincerely apologize.”
Holliday told The New York Times she was surprised by the backlash she received when her involvement was announced.
“It brought a lot of threats from people already saying I’ll never work again,” she said.
“If that’s what America has come to, where we all hate and bully people, there’s no more freedom of speech,” she added. “I know everybody hates me now, but that shows we are all just hateful people now — we don’t even want to work together.”
