Yahoo Lifestyle After Sparking Backlash With Her Inauguration Day Performance, Jewel Has Issued An Apology
Jewel addressed those who "feel betrayed" by her performance on Inauguration Day.
If you missed it, on Monday, the singer — who's best known for her song "Who Will Save Your Soul" — performed at a "Make America Healthy Again" inaugural ball for health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Taking the stage, Jewel thanked RFK Jr. for "sacrificing so much to Make America Healthy Again" before launching into her song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
Reactions to Jewel's performance were swift and overwhelmingly negative.
"Jewel posing with RFK… girl, who will save YOUR soul?" one person wrote on X.
An Instagram user said it was "gross" that Jewel would "lend [her] name and talent to celebrate" RFK, who's known for making baseless and concerning claims, including on vaccines. "Hope the check was worth it," they added.
"What an absolute let down," another agreed.
On Friday, Jewel took to Instagram to explain her decision to perform at the ball, saying she did so to bring attention to the topic of mental health.
"As many of you know, I am a mental health advocate," she began a video. "If there’s anything that I’ve learned in the past 20 years, it’s that mental health affects everybody’s lives across party lines." Jewel said, "I reached out to the last administration, spoke with the surgeon general about the mental health crisis that’s facing our nation. I don’t know if you guys know the stats, but it is bleak."
Jewel said she believes there are people on Trump's side who are "willing to help," and even though she doesn't share all of the same political views, she's not willing to wait until there's an administration that she "agree[s] [with] on all the politics" to take action.
"If I wait to try until I agree 100% with the people that might be willing to help me, I’d never get off the bench," she explained. "I don’t think that’s how activism works, waiting until everything’s perfect enough to participate. It’s actually…because things are so imperfect that we have to find ways to engage and to participate. And we have to act now. We cannot wait another four years."
Still, she apologized to those who were hurt by her performance, "especially to those who are in my LGBTQIA community."
"You guys are treasures," she added. "You’ve made my life a better place. And I will not stop fighting. None of us can afford to stop fighting, and I really believe that the only way we can change is in relationship. It isn’t in isolation or by isolating, it’s by being in relationship, by reaching out, by having hard conversations, and I really hope that we can push through our hurt and move toward understanding on both sides."
You can watch the full video here:
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