January 18, 2025
Rapper Nelly Set To Perform At Donald Trump’s Inauguration Liberty Ball
Nelly's participation at Trump's Inauguration has Black fans on X disappointed and upset.
Texas-born rapper Nelly has just been announced to be perform at one of President-elect Donald Trump’s three official inaugural balls on Jan 20. The news has sparked An outpouring from the Black community on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response.
The 50-year-old Grammy Award-winning artist is set to perform at the Inaugural Liberty Ball on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
According to CBS, Nelly — most known for his 2002 hip hop hit “Hot In Herre” — will be one of the artists joining Trump’s Liberty Ball after he is sworn in as president.
Nelly won’t be the only big-name artist performing at Trump’s Inauguration. Also as recently announced, Carrie Underwood — a Country music powerhouse — is set to perform alongside well-known opera singer Christopher Macchio and “Life is a Highway” singer Rascal Flatts at the main event. More notably, West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg, a former critic of Trump, reportedly will perform at one of Trump’s pre-inaugural events this weekend.
Fans of Nelly, whose real name is Cornell Iral Haynes Jr, have expressed their disappointment over the rapper’s decision to perform at Trump’s events.
One user on X wrote, disappointed, “This has been Nelly’s crowd.”
Another added, “Now Nelly? The Trump Inaugural Ball? Y’all just accepting ANY bookings atp lol.”
“Snoop AND Nelly?! Tap Dancing for Massa is how we’re starting off 2025?!”
One user called Trump a “tyrant” in their post about the Inauguration music lineup, stating, “We have Black celebrities like @SnoopDogg and Nelly supporting this tyrant like he’s a normal person. That means they are okay with his policies and his hatred towards immigrants. F*** you, Snoop, and f*** you too, Nelly, cuz y’all ain’t s***. And y’all are dead to me.”
The switch to supporting the MAGA spearhead’s politics seems to be different from Nelly’s previous views. The Texas-born rapper previously stated on Page Six in 2017, “You know the thing about Donald Trump is that I liked Donald Trump, I did, I just don’t like Donald Trump as my president.”
He continued to explain at the time, “[Trump] doesn’t surprise me as a person, he surprises me as a president because you don’t expect certain things, certain attitudes.”
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