Toby Keith Speaks Out, Won’t Apologize For Performing At Donald Trump’s Inauguration
Country singer Toby Keith will be performing at Donald Trump’s Inauguration, and he isn’t sorry for it either. Yahoo! shared that Toby is speaking out and he is just fine with his decision for this performance, even though some people disagree with it. Keith has been getting a lot of criticism for not backing out of this performance, but he doesn’t care what people say to him.
Toby Keith is now speaking out, and he doesn’t really care what people have to say to him. He shared his thoughts.
“I don’t apologize for performing for our country or military. I performed at events for previous presidents Bush and Obama and over 200 shows in Iraq and Afghanistan for the USO.”
On January 19, Toby Keith will be performing at the Lincoln Memorial. He was originally supposed to perform at the Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration, with 3 Doors Down, Lee Greenwood, Jennifer Holliday, The Piano Guys, and the Frontmen of Country. The Rockettes, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and America’s Got Talent contestant Jackie Evancho are also all set to perform as well. Garth Brooks, KISS, Kanye West, Marie Osmond, and R. Kelly all spoke out saying that they would not perform, but that isn’t keeping Toby Keith from doing it.
Excellent!
Toby Keith, 3 Doors Down to Perform at Trump Inauguration Concert#MAGA #Inauguration2017 https://t.co/awWdSM2asO pic.twitter.com/odEgnAjcs1— Linda Suhler, PhD (@LindaSuhler) January 13, 2017
CNN actually shared that Jennifer Holliday let the critics get to her and made the decision to end up backing out of the performance. It was actually announced that she would be performing before Jennifer agreed to the performance. This upset her of course. Holliday’s publicist, Bill Carpenter, put out a statement.
“It was presented to her as a concert that would heal the wounds of the election season. She was asked to perform ‘Hard Times Come No More,’ originally recorded by Bob Dylan. The inaugural committee released the information before she officially made a decision. Her rep also says that upon the (announcement), Holliday started getting letters from fans that they were disappointed. The LGBTQ community, amongst others, were some that were most upset. In the past, her rep Bill Carpenter explains that she performed for Pres. Reagan, George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, and (Bill) Clinton, but when Jennifer saw the outcry, she pulled out of the inauguration.”
Bustle shared that everyone wonders if Toby Keith is a Trump supporter or not, but the answer is a bit more complicated than just saying he supports Trump. Toby’s father and grandfather are both Democrats. Keith used to be a registered Democrat, but then later changed to Independent. Toby Keith has not actually revealed that he supports Trump, but he didn’t say that he doesn’t either. Back in 2010, Keith spoke on his thoughts on politics.
“My Democratic Party betrayed me, and I got lost somewhere along the way. The Democratic Party really let me down by not embracing me as a Democrat. Since when did it become anti-American to support the troops? And that’s the only Republican bone I had in my body.”
He played the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in 2016, but it turns out that Toby Keith has never been registered as a Republican. Toby said it was all about money, though. He said if the other side offered him a lot of money he would play for them, too. The fans would love to hear how Toby Keith feels about Trump, but he still isn’t saying.
Are you shocked to hear that Toby Keith is still going to perform and doesn’t care what the fans think about it? Do you think that Toby should have changed his mind? Sound off in the comments section below on your thoughts.
[Featured Image By Ethan Miller/Getty Images for dcp]
