Popular TV One journalist, Roland Martin, has followed through on his invite to singer, Chrisette Michele. Chrisette’s been getting dragged to hell and back ever since her decision to perform at Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration. Many of her fans turned on her at record speed and Michele went from being labeled as R&B’s ‘princess’ to ‘coon sell out’ overnight.
She recently faced more backlash after taking to social media to reveal everything she’s lost as a result of the Trump backlash (you can read that here). Then backlash from her miscarriage photo soon came, as well as from her defense of another Trump supporter, Mary Mary gospel singer Tina Campbell.
It was her recent Tina Campbell support that got a reaction outta Martin on Twitter. The two of them had a tense exchange, which ultimately ended with Roland inviting Chrisette on his News One TV One show to discuss it. A few days later, Chrisette has now appeared on his show and because Martin is never one to sugarcoat his questions, he got right down to business. He asked her everything people have been asking Chrisette since the beginning of the drama: Why the hell did she sing for Trump? Why is she still backing her decision? Who told her it was a good idea? Why is sh now defending Tina Campbell’s Trump support? And much more. See the four part interview below:
**Scroll down to watch all four parts of the interview**
Part 1: “I Apologize”
First, Roland Martin questioned Chrisette about why she decided to sing for Trump. She pointed out that she is a professional performer and added “that’s how I pay my bills.” She also further explained her point:
“I’ve sang for Barack Obama, I’ve sang for the troops, I’ve sang for the NAACP…”
Chrisette also seemed to have taken ILOSM’s advice (from our previous article), because she finally revealed whether or not she regrets, and is remorseful for, performing for Trump at the inauguration:
Chrisette: “When this [Trump’s win] happened we were all devastated…I didn’t vote for Trump. […] My intention was to bring healing. […] It was the wrong decision, it didn’t do what I wanted it to do…it didn’t heal.” She later said, “I’m sorry for hurting so many people…I am.”
Her husband/manager, Doug “Biggs” Ellison, tried to stop her from taking the Trump gig, but she refused:
Chrisette: “I said ‘No, this is an opportunity…this is a way for me to tell us that we’re gonna be okay’…”
Michele then explained that although it may look like she ‘sold out’ for a Trump check, she still has standards:
Chrisette:”They first asked me to sing the National Anthem, I said ‘Absolutely not’…so it’s not like I don’t stand for anything, when I’m making my choices. But to sing a song about ‘everything’s going to be alright’ and to ‘keep hope alive’…[it] went on deaf ears.”
Roland Martin: First of all…you saw lots of reaction before you took the stage. Jennifer Holliday, she was going to sing. Her audience fired back quickly. She has a significant LGBT audience, they said ‘How dare you.’ She saw the backlash, she pulled out. Did you NOT see that backlash, did you not see what happened to her and say, ‘I might wanna reconsider this’?
Chrisette: “I think when you have a positive message and you’re thinking about uplifting people, you go by any means…you don’t coward down, because my heart was in a place to bring some sort of healing.
When Martin pointed out that most of her fan base (Black women) may still not forgive her, even after watching her interview, Chrisette said this:
“All I can do is apologize. All I can do is say ‘this is where my heart was, this is where my heart is, and still is.’ I have a history of being that girl who goes into scary places and sings about hope. […] So if they don’t accept me for who I am, that’s they’re decision. I’m still gonna be uplifting, I’m still gonna be a positive person. But I understand that people make decisions…and I respect that.”
She had a lot more to say about people slammin’ her on social media, Spike Lee and Quest Love’s backlash toward her, and much more. Watch the rest of the interview clips below and tell us where you now stand with Chrisette Michele- Forgive, or No?
