Chrisette Michele Attempts to Defend Trump Inauguration Performance in Open Letter

Chrisette Michele, staring down a permanent wave of mockery after apparently agreeing to perform at Trump‘s inauguration, now says she wants to be a “bridge” and doesn’t mind being met with “stones” to do so. In an open letter posted to Twitter and Instagram early Thursday, the former Motown Records artist quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and closed with the hashtag #NoPoliticalGenius.

[youtube ytid=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBmg6zvRGkk?wmode=transparent&jqoemcache=TRbsU%5D

“My heart is broken for our country, for the hopes of our children, for the fights of those who came before us,” Michele claimed in the open letter entitled “We Can’t Be Present If We’re Silent.” “I cry at the thought that Black History, American History, might be in vain. This country has had great moments. God has shined His Light upon us.” Future “great moments,” Michele proposed, can start with “peaceful and progressive conversation,” a category under which she is presumably filing her inauguration performance? Idk.

The open letter was immediately called into question by (former?) fans, many of whom took issue with Michele’s MLK citation and the damaging rhetoric of the incoming administration:

Others noted her baffling choice of font:

Chrisette Michele will join some guy named Toby Keith and alleged band performing alleged music 3 Doors Down for two days of inaugural celebrations starting Thursday.