Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter Jill Scott was slammed on social media for changing the lyrics to the National Anthem during a recent performance at Essence Fest.
“Oh, say can you see, by the blood in the streets, that this place doesn’t smile on you, colored child. who’s blood built this land, with sweat and their hands. But you’ll die in this place, and your memory erased,” Scott sang into the microphone.
Watch Below:
Everyone please rise for the only National Anthem we will be recognizing from this day forward.
Jill Scott, we thank you! #ESSENCEFest pic.twitter.com/WrYrP1nhTc
— ESSENCE (@Essence) July 5, 2023
“Oh, say can you see, does this truth hold any weight? This is not the land of the free, but the home of the slaves,” the singer concluded.
Social media users quickly took to Twitter to lambast Scott for desecrating the National Anthem, many of them pointing out that she has acquired an estimated net worth of $12 million in the country she apparently loathes.
“A WOKE rendition of the National Anthem where she changed the lyrics to speak about how oppressed Black people are,” former Republican Congressional candidate Lavern Spicer wrote.
“She says ‘This is not the land of the free, but the home of the slave…’ For reference, Jill Scott’s net worth is estimated to be $12 MILLION and is likely much higher. In what way is she oppressed?” Spicer added.
“IRONY — A woman with a net worth of over $12 million dollars is singing to a packed Caesars Superdome about how bad you have it in America,” another echoed. “Jill Scott performed this cringe at the Essence Festival in New Orleans, an exclusively black event that ‘celebrates Black artists and Black women.’”
“Home of the slave huh,” another quipped, adding a screenshot of an image showing Scott’s net worth to be $12 million.
“She should move to anywhere else and see how bad she has it here,” another commented. “I hear Afghanistan is nice.”
“Telling young black people they are victims of oppression they never experienced, and doesn’t exist today, is providing them a crutch they can use to fail in life,” another wrote.
“This is nauseating . No only is the singing awful; the hateful message is even more repulsive,” another stated.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.