Nelly Speaks Out About Trump Inauguration Performance Backlash
Written by djfrosty on January 21, 2025
Source: John Medina / Getty
Donald J. Trump, the former reality star and real estate “mogul” has once again been inaugurated as the president of the United States. While millions of Americans celebrated, others were wary and braced for another four years of chaos that accompanied the last Trump presidency.
But, for the Hip-Hop community, one of the biggest surprises of the inauguration festivities was how many rap stars lined up to perform for Trump.
Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, Nelly, and Soulja Boy performed at Trump’s Crypto Ball in Washington, D.C., on Friday earning backlash on social media. Many commenters compared the rappers’ performances to that of singer Chrisette Michele who performed for Trump in 2017 and was quickly shunned by the Black community, leading to the unravelling of her career.
Nelly justified his performance with an appearance on the Willie D Podcast on Saturday, per HuffPost. The 50-year-old St. Lunatic told the Geto Boys rapper, “it’s an honor” to “perform for the president of the United States, regardless of who is in office.”
He added, “If President Biden would have asked me to perform, I would have performed. If Vice President Kamala Harris would have won and asked me to perform, I would have performed.”
Nelly did mention that Trump, who is known for racist remarks and actions dating back to the 1970s, has “some f*cked up ways,” adding, that “performing for somebody and voting for somebody is two different things.”
Clips online have emerged of Nelly starting his set with “Hail to the Chief” and performing his hit single, “Country Grammar.”
The rapper says that he comes from a military family and compared his performance to the experience of American soldiers saying, “I’m not doing this for money, I’m doing this because it’s an honor. I respect the office. It doesn’t matter who is in office,” he said. “The same way that our men and women, our brothers and sisters who protect this country, have to go to war and have to put their life on the line for whoever is in office.”
However, the backlash to the rapper performing for Trump has been swift.
Polls show that 92% of Black women voted for Kamala Harris for president in 2024 while Trump saw an increase in his support from Black men according to the Associated Press with about 3 in 10 Black men under the age of 45 went for Trump, roughly double the number he got in 2020.