Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter Jill Scott is facing backlash after she changed the lyrics to the National Anthem at a recent Essence Fest performance.
Everyone please rise for the only National Anthem we will be recognizing from this day forward.
— ESSENCE (@Essence) July 5, 2023
Jill Scott, we thank you! #ESSENCEFest pic.twitter.com/WrYrP1nhTc
Essence posted her version of the “Star-Spangled Banner” that calls America “home of the slave” to Twitter Wednesday.
Essence called it “the only National Anthem we will be recognizing from this day forward.”
Responses were soon filled with criticism. Lavern Spicer, a Republican who is running for Congress in Florida, called it, “a WOKE rendition of the National Anthem where she changed the lyrics to speak about how oppressed Black people are.”
R&B singer Jill Scott (@missjillscott) did a WOKE rendition of the National Anthem where she changed the lyrics to speak about how oppressed Black people are.
— Lavern Spicer 🇺🇸 (@lavern_spicer) July 5, 2023
She says “This is not the land of the free, but the home of the slave…”
For reference, Jill Scott’s net worth is… pic.twitter.com/0dX40I2A8N
“For reference, Jill Scott’s net worth is estimated to be $12 MILLION and is likely much higher. In what way is she oppressed?” she added.
Scott responded with a new tweet that said, “I see so I write. I feel so I write. I write cuz I gotsto. I write life in multi spectrum-Highs, Lows & All.”
1st -Thank you sincerely for your respect and appreciation 💜. I’m on path🥰. 2ndly, with love, I am me in entirely; beautifully human, if some will OR won’t. I see so I write. I feel so I write. I write cuz I gotsto. I write life in multi spectrum-Highs, Lows & All. #here4it pic.twitter.com/55UOuBlDUb
— ⭐Jill Scott⭐ (@missjillscott) July 5, 2023
This did not stop the criticisms.
Podcaster Jason Whitlock posted Scott’s new lyrics and wrote, “The safest, most opportunity-rich place on the planet for black people is the United States of America.”
Jill Scott's national anthem, as performed at the Essence Festival:
— Jason Whitlock (@WhitlockJason) July 5, 2023
"Oh, say can you see, by the blood in the streets. This place doesn’t smile on you, colored child. Whose blood built this land with sweat and their hands. But we’ll die in this place and your memory erased. Oh,…
Business Owner Amiri King noted:
“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. Jill Scott performed this cringe at the Essence Festival in New Orleans, an exclusively black event that ‘celebrates Black artists and Black women.’”
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.
— Amiri King (@AmiriKing) July 6, 2023
Jill Scott performed this cringe at the Essence Festival in New Orleans, an exclusively black event that ‘celebrates Black artists and Black… pic.twitter.com/rY5WCCOm2h
Despite the pushback, some users offered their understanding.
https://twitter.com/GJChamberlain/status/1676678894697553920
User, Gregory J. Chamberlain cited freedom of expression stating, “Artists deserve creative freedom to express pain, whether we agree or not. That’s what freedom and liberty is all about.”