Days after the colossal fallout from performing at inauguration, R&B singer Chrisette Michele appeared on The Breakfast Club radio show as another stop on her explainer tour.
Hosts Charlamagne Tha God, Angela Yee and DJ Envy asked the proverbial question several times throughout the interview: Why?
“I needed them to see us. I needed them to see what we have to say, what we look like, how we talk,” Michele said near the open of the interview.
The singer risked a large amount of her fan base leading up to and post inauguration. Artists like Spike Lee and Questlove came out in opposition of her performance. Michele’s fiancé and manager engaged in twitter beef with social media users and rappers (i.e. Talib Kweli) over the singer’s decision.
Michele told The Breakfast club hosts that artists should encourage each other and claimed that if folks really knew her, they would know her intentions came from a good place.
But the singer says it was worth it in the end because she’s confident her message was received by those who attended the ball. Her definition of making a statement was to wear a skirt with Basquiat drawings that displayed images of brutality made against Black people. She also said she made sure to speak with each person in the room.
“If we don’t know anything about each other, we’ll never be able to get along. My goal is to start a conversation,” she said.
In a Rolling Stone interview on Monday, the singer revealed that her family is severed over her decision. But the kicker is after all she put on the line, Donald Trump, the main person she should have spoken to, didn’t even shake her hand at the event.
“It’s kind of pointless Michele. You took a lot of heat for nothing,” Charlemagne Tha God said.
Michele didn’t reveal how much she was paid but refuted the rumor that she received a quarter million dollars for her performance.
The Breakfast Club hosts then asked why she didn’t choose another form of protest–like attending the Women’s March which followed inauguration. Michele quipped that she didn’t attend because they didn’t invite “D-list celebrities,” but said she stood in solidarity with the protesters.
The singer announced she is creating a show called “No Political Genius,” where she will connect people from opposite ends of the spectrum with politicians to encourage difficult conversations.
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Chrisette Michele Makes Us Scratch Our Heads After Her Interview On ‘The Breakfast Club’ was originally published on newsone.com
