Source: Marcus Ingram / Getty
Ever since Chrisette Michele was swiftly canceled by damn near everyone for performing at Donald Trump’s 2016 presential inauguration, her career nearly tanked and continues to be in a state of recovery. Finally, she’s in a better space to share her reflections with the public by admitting the singing gig was a bad move.
According to Blavity, Michele was an open book while visiting Terrell Grice’s talk show, The Terrell Show, discussing the controversy with the Black community surrounding her performance at the inauguration. “It was the wrong thing to do,” she admitted.
Getting shunned from her own community gave her a deeper insight into her own ego, apparently.
“I don’t regret it. I learned a lot,” Michele said. “I learned a lot about myself, I learned a lot about my fears…my insecurities. I didn’t know I was that insecure until I was rejected.”
It’s an interesting pivot considering her original defense for taking the gig because it allowed her to be “a bridge” between Black and white communities.
Anyway, the backlash took a serious toll on the singer’s music career, unlike another Black artist who also sang at the inauguration. She specifically discussed how gospel singer Travis Greene’s journey found its way back to the top of the charts while she could barely gain traction into the mainstream. “What was Travis Greene’s intention? Because his album became No. 1,” she stated. Her “Black Lives Matter” single in 2017 barely went triple wood on the charts.
Both Grice and Michele explored the comparison by highlighting the blatant misogyny Black women face while working in the music industry.
Check out the full discussion below.
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