While Chrisette Michele and Jennifer Holliday may have gotten a call to perform at the inauguration, it might surprise you that the one musician and so-called friend of Donald Trump who wasn't asked to lend their talents was Kanye West.
<img src="http://madamenoire.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Kanye-West-PF.jpg" alt="Kanye West Trump" width="1068" height="600" class="aligncenter wp-image-736452 size-full" />
If you'll recall, West stepped back into the spotlight following his short mental health treatment by meeting with the president-elect on Trump Towers. He received a lot of flack for his decision, but explained their meeting buy saying the following was the purpose of their discussion:
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">I wanted to meet with Trump today to discuss multicultural issues.</p>
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) <a href="https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/808767333065981956">December 13, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">These issues included bullying, supporting teachers, modernizing curriculums, and violence in Chicago.</p>
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) <a href="https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/808768768906235908">December 13, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future President if we truly want change.</p>
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) <a href="https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/808769046208532484">December 13, 2016</a></blockquote>
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West even shared an image of a signed copy of Trump's <em>TIME</em> "Person of the Year" cover with a message that read, "To Kanye, you are a great friend."
But now West's friendship with Trump, along with whether or not he's "traditionally American" enough are being questioned as queries swirl about whether or not the rapper would take part in the inauguration.
In a chat with CNN's Erin Burnett, Thomas J. Barrack Jr., chairman of the Presidential Inauguration Committee, shut down rumors that West would take the stage:
"There's one celebrity I have to ask you about in particular because he said a lot of positive things about Donald Trump," Burnett asked. "You and I have have talked about Kanye West before. People have now said that Kanye would maybe want to perform. Will he?"
Barrack's response?
"No, we haven't asked him," he said. "He's been great. He considers himself a friend of the president-elect, but it's not the venue. The venue we have for entertainment is filled out. It's perfect. It's going to be typically and traditionally American. Kanye is a great guy, we just haven’t asked him to perform, and we move on with our agenda."
Interesting enough, a few of the stars who were asked to perform but declined the opportunity include Italian tenor <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/20/arts/andrea-bocelli-wont-be-singing-at-the-trump-inauguration.html" target="_blank">Andrea Bocelli</a>, Canadian singer Celine Dion, and British music legend Elton John. So much for "traditionally American..."
Check out Barrack's conversation with CNN below:
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Damn <a href="https://twitter.com/kanyewest">@kanyewest</a> couldn't even get to perform at this friend <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump">@realDonaldTrump</a>'s inauguration b/c the event is "Traditionally American". <a href="https://t.co/wu3EezncR2">pic.twitter.com/wu3EezncR2</a></p>
— Unstripped Voice (@UnstrippedVoice) <a href="https://twitter.com/UnstrippedVoice/status/821832250627125248">January 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<em>Image via Splash </em>
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