Chrisette Michele says she regrets performing at Donald Trump's inauguration ball
Gospel artist said she was 'wrong' to perform at the ceremony and apologised for offending people
Gospel singer Chrisette Michele has apologised for performing at Donald Trump's presidential inauguration ball earlier this year.
The Grammy Award-winning artist caused consternation when she accepted an offer to sing at the 'Make America Great Again!' welcome celebration concert in January.
Fellow artist Questlove said on Twitter that he would pay her not to appear at the event. Afterwards Michele said her family had "disowned" her over the decision to perform and revealed that she never even met Trump in person.
Speaking recently on The Breakfast Club, Michele has now said: "I regret everything that happened. I think that was a bad choice."
"A lot of times when you have a message of hope, a lot of times when you have a message of healing, you think - know know, maybe it's a self-righteous thing, maybe it's a mistake to feel that way - but you think: 'Man, if I just tell people everything is gonna be OK, they'll hear me.'
"Because I've been doing that for years, so I just thought the amount of times I've done it - when I sing my own music, right, and then I sing a gospel song at my concerts, those are usually the songs that get the most response. So I just thought that bringing that to that moment where everybody was hurting, including myself, would be helpful. And I was wrong and I offended a lot of people."
She said she knew at the time that Trump "wasn't a good choice for the presidency".
"That was something we all knew together," she continued. "But there's always gotta be some sense of hope. Again, that stage, that message on that stage was the wrong time and the wrong place. And I apologise deeply for the people that I hurt."
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