It’s been nearly 5 years since Chrisette Michele endured a swift and seismic backlash for seemingly endorsing polarizing Donald Trump by singing at his presidential inauguration. Though she made clear her intention was to “be a bridge” between his supporters and detractors, the only bridge she traveled was that straight to “cancelledville.”
The subject of memes, fiery debates, ridicule, and more from fans and industry peers alike, the blowback also bled into her professional and personal life via the loss of her record deal, impacted touring ability, and failed marriage (as we reported here).
Just two months ago she took to the net to openly admit the performance was ‘the wrong thing to do,’ but the admission also came with the question of why her cancellation endures while other high profile figures who have openly endorsed Trump continue to thrive.
That notion was reiterated Tuesday (August 31) when the GRAMMY winner took to social media to co-sign and share a tweet from social commentator and television personality Jawn Murray. Michele added:
“I always wonder how to respond to this question. It’s actually the reason I don’t do interviews anymore.
Being compared to Kanye & Travis for the last 5 years. Watching them soar into the highest realms of stardom. Waiting on God’s hand to show me exactly what my story will look like. I’ve made a choice to stay full of gratitude and master peace, but today, this post has inspired me to allow the energy of comparison to entering my feed. I think most of the comments are well-intended and I’m not really attached to the results of the conversation. But it is an interesting topic. Kanye endorsed him, Travis sang with me, and… time unfolded. What do YOU think history has proven in this tale? What did you think 5 years ago? What do you think today? Would you release new music if you were me? What would you sing about? Who would you sing to? Why? What does my role as a FEMALE play in this story? What about my role as a Christian? How about my role as it compares to Kanye & Travis?”
As alluded to in the caption above, Gospel superstar Travis Greene – despite performing at the same event as Michele – has not seen nearly the negative impact to his career she has.
Elsewhere, Kanye has been the center of many divisive arguments based on racially charged comments including “slavery was a choice,” “Harriet Tubman didn’t free the slaves,” and more (as we have previously reported). That doesn’t include his open support of Trump and the multiple times he has been photographed wearing “make America great again (MAGA)” paraphernalia. None of the aforementioned have had long-lasting negative impacts on his career – as evidenced by the commercial response to his latest album, ‘Donda,’ which is set to have the best first-week sales of the year to date.
The wins from Kanye and co. have left many spectators – Chrisette included (as inferred in the Facebook post) – to believe her gender is the key difference between her career narrative and theirs (post-Trump).
