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Rebecca Ferguson May Sing ‘Strange Fruit’ At Donald Trump’s Inauguration – See Full Parade Participants List

By Paula Mooney
Published on: 10:46 PST, Jan 2, 2017

The article titled “Donald Trump Inauguration Parade: Full List of Participants” by Heavy is certainly getting plenty of attention. With more than 3,300 views in about four hours, the article’s popularity proves that people want to know exactly which bands, artists and celebrities will take part in Trump’s Inauguration Day festivities. A long list of high school marching bands, college bands and other organizations can be found on that page. There are also lists of celebrities and performers who reportedly turned down performing at Trump’s Inauguration. However, one performer gave Trump a condition in order to perform during the January 20th occasion.

As reported by Facebook, the term “Rebecca Ferguson Donald Trump Inauguration” is trending, all because of Ferguson’s unique answer to reportedly being asked to perform at Trump’s Inauguration ceremony. As seen in the below tweet, simply worded “Inauguration ceremony,” Rebecca led her readers to a longer statement that let them known her conditions for performing at Trump’s Inauguration Day ceremony.

The tweet from Rebecca’s official Twitter account — Ferguson’s Twitter page goes by the @RebeccaFMusic handle — was published on January 2, and reads as below from TwitLonger.

“Inauguration ceremony. I’ve been asked and this is my answer. If you allow me to sing ‘Strange Fruit’ a song that has huge historical importance, a song that was blacklisted in the United States for being too controversial. A song that speaks to all the disregarded and down trodden black people in the United States. A song that is a reminder of how love is the only thing that will conquer all the hatred in this world, then I will graciously accept your invitation and see you in Washington. Best Rebecca X”

Indeed, the “Strange Fruit” song can be seen below, as sung by Billie Holiday. As reported by the BBC, “Strange Fruit” was originally recorded by Billie, and its haunting lyrics tell the tale of the strange fruit of black bodies swinging in the wind in the South. The protest song is one that paints a vivid picture of lynchings — with “blood on the leaves” representing a horrid picture of humans in place of fruit sprouting on trees.

Whether or not Trump will accept Rebecca’s proposal to sing “Strange Fruit” remains to be seen. The full list of Trump’s Inauguration Day performers, as reported by Heavy thus far, do not yet show Rebecca’s name as a performer. Ferguson’s proposal seems to have put the Trump camp in an interesting position. If Trump’s camp agrees to Rebecca’s proposal to sing “Strange Fruit” — and Trump sways along to such a powerful race protest song, it could be viewed as powerful or controversial in the eyes of the public, or trivializing such a powerful song to Trump’s detractors.

If Trump’s camp turns down Ferguson’s request to sing “Strange Fruit” during Trump’s Inauguration Day, it could be viewed as the new President Trump not being as racially sensitive as he could be on January 20. Either way, it will interesting to keep following the updates of the Trump Inauguration Twitter account, found at the @TrumpInaugural handle, to determine official updates on who will perform and who won’t.

“The official account of the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC). Follow us for updates on the inauguration of & .”

In the meantime, people are reacting in a myriad of ways to Rebecca’s proposal, with some advising Ferguson not to perform at all at Trump’s Inauguration Day festivities.

In the top photo above, Rebecca could be seen on February 20, 2013, in London, as Ferguson arrived at the BRIT Awards 2013 at the o2 Arena.

[Featured Image by Jon Furniss Photography/Invision/AP Images]

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