Chrisette Michele braved the potential storm to sit down with the members of "The Breakfast Club" to explain her decision to perform at President Trump's inaugural ball. There's no need for a long intro because she had a lot to say. Check out some of the highlights and the full interview below.
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<b>Why did she perform?</b>
I needed them to see us. I needed them to see what we have to say, what we look like, how we talk. With the entire campaign experience, I think that many of us were wondering, ‘Who’s he talking to?’ You know you would hear something you would say, ‘Why does he think it’s ok to talk to “us”’ like that?’ And so I needed him to see what ‘us’ looked like because I was as confused as everybody else, wondering…<b><i>I’m</i></b> the one who feels left out. And I keep hearing him say, ‘For the people who feel like they don’t belong, who feel like they’re not being heard.’ And I was saying, ‘I don’t know if we’re being heard.’
<b>The Backlash</b>
I had turned off my phone as soon as I decided to do it. Because I knew that people wouldn’t understand. And I refer to myself as a wolf in sheep’s clothing but really, I was a sheep in wolf’s clothing. I was afraid as we all are right now, knowing that I had to put on some kind of armor. I call it the armor of God. That’s why I went there and sang gospel.
<b>Her initial reaction </b>
Immediately, I said, ‘Absolutely.’ And he [her manager/fiancé] said ‘Oh, hell no!’ It was no hesitation.
<b>The money </b>
We negotiate that. On a one sheet, they don’t say we have this amount of money to pay you. They ask what’s your fee.
<b>$250,000? </b>
No. You think Chrisette Michele the soul singer from New York… That’s another rumor. No, I didn’t get paid $250,000. <b>But</b> if I did get paid a quarter million dollars, I would very proud of that. There are Black people who wanted to sing at the White House 100 years ago, who sang on the steps because they wouldn’t let us in. And they would sing for free. The way I sang for Barack Obama was for free.
<b>Did you anticipate how crazy the backlash would be?</b>
I saw what Jenifer Holliday went through and I knew I was great before they called me and I was still great after they called me. I didn’t anticipate my own fans being as enraged. I thought that they had heard the album I put out <i>Let Freedom Reign. </i>I thought that they heard me sing “Black Girl Magic,” I thought that they had seen me go to Harvard University and talk about Black art and how we can use art to change…
<b>Charlamagne: </b>That Black cache don’t matter when you do something they don’t like.
I would have never guessed that. I thought that some of my accolades would have stood for who I am. And they didn’t.
<b>No Political Genius </b>
Putting out “No Political Genius” was my way of saying, ‘There’s more than just you who lives here.’ And if we don’t know anything about each other, then we’ll never be able to get along. I’m holding on to the words from Maya Angelou and from greats like Iyanla Vanzant who understand that if we don’t talk to each other, we’ll never unify and we’ll never get anything done. So my goal now is to start conversation, continue conversation and not be afraid of conversation.
<b>DJ Envy: You didn’t think it was a smack in the face to Barack Obama ? Even not as a Black thing, as a woman?</b>
As a woman as a Black person, my thing was Barack was my leader for eight years what’s Barack doing and Barack was there. Now, there were 60 Democrats who weren’t. What does that say? That says that the voice that we had, we’re not going to have. The same way that the Republicans walked out on Barack Obama, is the same way that Democrats are walking out on Donald Trump. So where are we going to be? Who’s going to speak for us? I’m no political genius, and I’ll say that a thousand times, but I am an American.
<b>Charlamagne: See I think that’s the problem though. I think people want political geniuses to talk to Trump. I think when they look at you they’re thinking what could she possibly say to get through to Donald Trump? </b>
I’m as upset as y’all are <i>and</i> I’m invited to a lot of people’s offices. I’m invited to a lot of mayors’ offices. And so if, by some chance, we could have a conversation and somebody could tell me what to say…and if we could all be one voice and if I could bring that to somebody, I will.
<b>Angela Yee: It looks like she’s down with Donald Trump now. </b>
I didn’t vote for Donald Trump. There are a group of people that did and I want to know why. You watch CNN and you see people in middle America saying, ‘I feel forgotten.’ And they look nothing like me, they don’t have my story, I don’t know much about them and they voted for him. So, I want to go to South Dakota and sit down with that person and ask them what their struggles are. And see how similar the single, White girl with a child that lives in poverty, how she relates to the Black girl in Far Rockaway in the same situation. I want to see if somewhere, in the middle of all of this, we sound anything alike and what we can do together to bring some change.
<b>Charlamagne: I mean, you saying all that but did you get a chance to meet with Donald Trump? </b>
Donald Trump was not at the ball. We talk about the media and what we see on television. I was at the ball that he spoke at but he didn’t get there until we were leaving.
<b>Charlamagne: So it was kind of pointless Chrisette. You took a lot of heat for nothing. </b>
I took a lot of heat because I want to unify America. I didn’t go there to see if I could shake…What’s a handshake going to do? I went there to begin a conversation with America. I went there to show them what we look like.
I walked into the gym the other day and it was this White lady, in a black suit, with red lipstick on and she was as enraged as I was but she looked nothing like me and I said, ‘I performed at the inauguration.’ You know what the first words out of her mouth was, ‘Oh my God! Congratulations!’ That’s the response I’m getting from people and we don’t even know that people feel that way.
<b>Charlamagne: So you’re saying you about to switch genres, you’re about to start doing country music, you’re about to start performing for White people? </b>
No, I’m going to start talking to more people.
<b>Angela Yee: Were your feelings hurt…even with Spike Lee?</b>
Spike Lee. Let’s go there. Well, because he’s one of my “peers.” In other words, we’re both people who create, we’re both artists who bring things to media and say things. So the reason why something that comes from his mouth would be disappointing, more than hurtful, it’s disappointing is because he’s the person who’s supposed to teach me how to create this art and get it out. He’s the person who created <i>Crooklyn </i>and is telling people that he’s not going to pay me for a song he never called me about. So teach me, please. I would much rather have a conversation than a tweet…
<b>Angela Yee: You called him a crook from Crooklyn...</b>
I addressed it in my spoken word and I had to get that off my chest because I don’t know anybody who didn’t watch <i>Crooklyn. </i>I’m not from that side of town, I wasn’t raised in that experience but it was eye opening and it made me think. I was proud of watching that. Now, I want to create that. Now, I’m bringing in cameras and paying for things with my own $750,000 and Spike Lee is not going to be able to teach me, he’s not going to be able to show me because he doesn’t want to have a conversation.
<b>Charlamagne: Questlove said he would pay you <i>not </i>to perform</b>
And I would have paid him <i>to </i>perform and that’s where it’s at. If Questlove, who I’ve worked with on his music, doesn’t know that I didn’t go there for money, then we don’t know each other. None of us know each other.
<b>Charlamagne: He’s ran a campaign of hate for 18 months, he needs to prove to us first that he’s worthy of our conversation. </b>
I’m afraid to wait cause I don’t know what they’re going to do tomorrow. I don’t know where I fit in.
<b>Yee: Why not go to the Women’s March then? </b>
They don’t invite D-list celebrities. I didn’t get a call.
<b>Yee: They told me that a lot of people called them to come…</b>
<b>Charlamagne: You don’t have to be a celebrity to go to the March</b>
<b>Yee: Cause I think that could have been a powerful thing…</b>
I think what I did was a powerful thing. I think what Alicia Keys did was a powerful thing. I think what Madonna did was a powerful thing. I think if we all think about doing powerful things on the platform we have, instead of doing powerful things on Instagram, we’d be a lot better.
<b>Charlamagne: But this is the thing though, you did utilize the platform but you didn’t make a stand, you didn’t say anything at the inauguration…</b>
Did you listen? Did you see my Basquiat skirt? I am an artist, I wasn’t given the microphone to be a speaker. So I wore Basquiat there and on my Basquiat skirt showed us being hung, showed us being beaten by police, showed the brutality and nobody listened. And they’re still calling. Congressman are still calling. So I’ll go there.
<b>Charlamagne: For people who didn’t watch, what did you say on stage?</b>
I said, ‘It’s not over until it’s good.’ I said ’To keep hope alive.’ I said, ’Put your hands up in the air and wave ‘em from side to side.’ I said, ‘Look at my skirt. I’m wearing a skirt created by a White woman with a Black man’s art on it.
<b>Charlamagne: Not good enough. You should have said, ‘Hands up, don’t shoot. Black Lives Matter.’ </b>
Then you say that…I don’t know if those are the perfect words for the inauguration.
<b>Charlamagne: See that’s the thing. We’ve been conforming to them. Why are we conforming to the oppressor?</b>
You not listening, you not watching either. You not watching me. You haven’t been watching me. And you’ve always been kind, you’ve always been cordial, you’ve always been a great conversationalist and that’s the reason why I came because I know that y’all know how to talk. And y’all are ok with conversation.
You can watch the rest of Chrisette’s interview, where she speaks in depth about a new series where she brings Congressmen and women together with the voters to dialogue in her series "No Political Genius" in the video below.
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<i>Veronica Wells is the culture editor at MadameNoire.com. She is also the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bettah-Days-Veronica-R-Wells/dp/1535549866" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.amazon.com/Bettah-Days-Veronica-R-Wells/dp/1535549866&source=gmail&ust=1485442739834000&usg=AFQjCNGUXjl_uBDu296ahtqJFpNiiO8taQ">“Bettah Days.”</a> You can follow her on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/veronicarwells" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.facebook.com/veronicarwells&source=gmail&ust=1485442739834000&usg=AFQjCNGCi-ZFOtmkpMg-D6op-cFQ2qO7qQ">Facebook</a> and Twitter<a href="https://twitter.com/VDubShrug" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://twitter.com/VDubShrug&source=gmail&ust=1485442739834000&usg=AFQjCNG7EeCM2-OC69r3rURF32drTmMm1A"> @VDubShrug.</a></i>
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