Jennifer Holliday, Trump: 'Dreamgirls' Legend Explains Why She's Not Performing At Inauguration [VIDEO]
Jennifer Holliday has now expressed her reasons for changing her mind on performing at President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.
Holliday made headlines last week when it was reported she might sing at Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20. Many in the black and LGBT community were upset with Holliday considering Trump's various comments over the past few years.
It has since been announced that Holliday won't be attending the inauguration, and the powerhouse vocalist went on The View Tuesday to explain why.
"The gay community for 35 years has been faithfully there for me and the article in The Daily Beast, they threw my own words back to me and I'm not a liar or a hypocrite," Holliday said. "The gay community, through The Daily Beast, was able to say, look, it's not just we want to be married, there are other things we want you're not aware of. I was like, 'Ok, thank you, I will pull out.'"
Holliday noted that she had been viciously attacked online after the news spread.
"I sent an e-mail [to Trump's people] that it had gotten out of hand, I was even receiving death threats at this point and I was receiving death threats from black people, called the N-word from black people. I read everything," she said. "They were saying, 'You should kill yourself,' all over singing a song."
The singer was quick to defend herself and admitted that she hadn't received such hate even growing up.
"I'm not a liar or a hypocrite and I haven't done anything to be called names. I grew up in mixed middle class neighborhood in Texas and I've never been called the N-word," she said. "I was like, 'Wow, we've come to this.'"
Holliday said there was a "lapse of judgment" on her part as she realized that people were still feeling scared and upset over the election.
"Things started back up again, you start remember things and the fire starts burning. People have not finished with this," she said. "I missed all of that."
Holliday took the stage later in The View broadcast to sing the Duke Ellington classic "Come Sunday".
