British singer Rebecca Ferguson has reportedly been asked to perform at Donald Trump's inauguration, but says she will only do it under one condition: if she's able to perform Billie Holiday's powerful 1939 protest song, "Strange Fruit."
Taking to Twitter earlier today, the 2010 X Factor runner-up posted a link to a longer note, in which is says she would "graciously accept" the invitation so long as she is able to sing the poignant song, which was originally written as a poem by Abel Meeropol to protest racism, particularly the lynchings of African-Americans.
Inauguration ceremony
Read: https://t.co/CHVDH7Qzbx
— Rebecca Ferguson (@RebeccaFMusic) January 2, 2017
"["Strange Fruit" is] a song that has huge historical importance, a song that was blacklisted in the United States for being too controversial," Ferguson wrote. "[It's] a song that speaks to all the disregarded and down trodden black people in the United States."
Read her entire statement below.
[h/t BBC]
