It’s no secret that Donald Trump’s team has been having trouble booking an artist to perform at the inauguration. The president elect’s team has knocked on the doors of many A-list entertainers to only receive a slick stiff arm. But maybe they’ve found some salvation in British singer Rebecca Ferguson… with stipulations of course.
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Ferguson, British ‘X Factor’ alumna revealed that she’d been approached to perform at the inaugural ceremony. The songstress agreed under on condition: she be allowed to sing ‘Strange Fruit.’
‘I’ve been asked and this is my answer. If you allow me to sing ‘strange fruit’ a song that has huge historical importance, a song that was blacklisted in the United States for being too controversial,” a song that speaks to all the disregarded and down trodden black people in the United States. A song that is a reminder of how love is the only thing that will conquer all the hatred in this world, then I will graciously accept your invitation and see you in Washington.’
Originally recorded and performed by Billie Holiday in 1939, ‘Strange Fruit’ lyrics depicts the horrific lynchings of African Americans in the 1930s. The aforementioned song was initially published as a poem by Abel Meeropol to combat racism. With the assistance of Holiday and Nina Simone, the ‘Strange’ has become the nation’s most famous protest song.
The president-elect’s team has yet to respond to Ferguson’s proposition.
During her tenure on ‘X Factor’, the 30-year-old belted Sam Cooke‘s civil rights anthem ‘A Change Gonna Come’ in 2010.