Welsh singer Charlotte Church has taken a swipe at “tyrant” Donald Trump after she claimed his team asked her to perform at his inauguration.
The Trump team is reportedly struggling to find big name stars to appear at the ceremony to mark his entrance to office on January 20th.
Last month, The Telegraph in the UK reported that an agent tasked with recruiting stars for the event had said he couldn’t find any top name performers, “even for a billion dollars” following the divisive presidential election campaign.
The Trump team is aiming to raise $75m to spend on a range of lavish events to celebrate his rise to office and Church sent out a tweet this morning claiming Trump’s staff had asked her to perform:
@realDonaldTrump Your staff have asked me to sing at your inauguration, a simple Internet search would show I think you're a tyrant. Bye💩💩💩💩
— Charlotte Church (@charlottechurch) January 10, 2017
The Welsh singer and songwriter is the latest in a long line of celebrities to hit out at Trump in recent weeks with Oscar winner, Meryl Streep using her Golden Globe’s acceptance speech over the weekend to criticise the President-elect for mocking a disabled reporter during his election campaign.
Rebecca Ferguson snub
File Photo, X Factor runner-up, Rebecca Ferguson. Image: PA Wire PA Wire/PA Images
This afternoon X Factor runner-up Rebecca Ferguson officially confirmed she will not be performing at the ceremony because the committee would not allow her to sing her preferred song choice, Strange Fruit - made famous by Billie Holiday.
Based on a poem by Abel Meeropol, the song protests the lynching of African Americans in the late 1930s.
In a statement to her website, Ferguson said she had requested to sing the song as “I felt it was the only song that would not compromise my artistic integrity.”
“Also as somebody who has a lot of love for all people, but has a special empathy as well for African American people and the #blacklivesmatter movement, I wanted to create a moment of pause for people to reflect," she said.
"There are many gray areas about the offer for me to perform that I'm unable to share right now, but I will not be singing."
Performance fees
In the past top musicians have agreed to perform at inauguration ceremonies and waived their substantial performance fees to do so.
In a statement, Mr Trump’s inaugural committee said “no one with any official position or relationship” with the committee had offered to pay out large performance fees to stars.
"We are focused on organising an exciting and uniting celebration of freedom and democracy," said the statement.
Church’s claim that she had been earmarked to perform on January 20th have been greeted with scorn in some quarters with British broadcaster, Piers Morgan tweeting “he’s never heard of you.”
Oh pur-lease, he's never heard of you, you ridiculous creature. https://t.co/6BCpbOMKcx
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 10, 2017
