British Singer On Inauguration Invite: I’ll Only Do It If I Can Perform Protest Song About Lynching Blacks

The BBC reports:

Rebecca Ferguson says she’s been asked to perform at Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony. The singer tweeted she would “graciously accept” the invitation from the American president-elect if she can perform Strange Fruit. “[It’s] a song that has huge historical importance, a song that was blacklisted in the United States,” she posted. Strange Fruit was originally recorded by Billie Holiday but was written as a poem by Abel Meeropol.

The words of Strange Fruit describe the lynching of African Americans in the early 20th century: “Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze”. It’s been described as one of the first great protest songs. Rebecca wrote that the song “speaks to all the disregarded and down trodden black people” in the US and if she can sing it she will “see [Mr Trump] in Washington”. Reports from the US suggest America’s next president is struggling to find musicians to perform at his swearing in ceremony on 20 January.

Ferguson was the runner-up in Britain’s X-Factor in 2010.