Tony-winning actress/singer Jennifer Holliday has pulled out of the lineup for Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration, USA TODAY confirmed.
The move comes a day after Holliday’s agent, Jeff Epstein, told USA TODAY via email that she verbally accepted an offer from the Trump inaugural committee. “We want to be clear that an offer does not constitute a contract,” he noted.
After learning that the gay icon had signed on to perform at the Trump show, Daily Beast writer Kevin Fallon wrote: “There’s no separating the booking of any of these stars from the fact that performing at the inauguration — any inauguration, sure, but especially this one — is a political act. In the case of Holliday, it is an act that seems to defy everything her most passionate supporters stand for, and even issues she herself has supported throughout her career.”
In an open letter addressed to her “beloved LGBT community” published Saturday by the Wrap.com and obtained by USA TODAY, Holliday declared: “I WILL NOT PERFORM FOR THE WELCOME CONCERT OR FOR ANY OF THE INAUGURATION FESTIVITIES!”
For the complete story, visit USAToday.com/Life/Music.