Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter jill scott is facing backlash after she changed the lyrics to the national anthem at a recent essence fest performance.
Essence posted her version of the “Star-Spangled Banner” that calls America “home of the slave” to Twitter Wednesday.
Essence called it “the only national anthem we will be recognizing from this day forward.”
Responses were soon filled with criticism. Lavern Spicer, a Republican who is running for Congress in Florida, called it, “a WOKE rendition of the national anthem where she changed the lyrics to speak about how oppressed Black people are.”
“For reference, jill scott’s net worth is estimated to be $12 MILLION and is likely much higher. In what way is she oppressed?” she added.
Scott responded with a new tweet that said, “I see so I write. I feel so I write. I write cuz I gotsto. I write life in multi spectrum-Highs, Lows & All.”
This did not stop the criticisms.
Podcaster Jason Whitlock posted Scott’s new lyrics and wrote, “The safest, most opportunity-rich place on the planet for black people is the United States of America.”
Business Owner Amiri King noted:
“IRONY—A woman with a net worth of over $12 million dollars is singing to a packed Caesars Superdome about how bad you have it in America. jill scott performed this cringe at the Essence Festival in New Orleans, an exclusively black event that ‘celebrates Black artists and Black women.’”
Despite the pushback, some users offered their understanding.
https://twitter.com/GJChamberlain/status/1676678894697553920
User, Gregory J. Chamberlain cited freedom of expression stating, “Artists deserve creative freedom to express pain, whether we agree or not. That’s what freedom and liberty is all about.”