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UK singer Rebecca Ferguson says she’ll perform at Trump’s inauguration on one condition

Pop star to sing at Trump's inauguration, under one condition
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Pop star to sing at Trump's inauguration, under one condition

In just over two weeks' time, Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony is set to take place, with details of who will be performing at the event yet to be fully announced.

Amid reports of several singers turning down invitations to perform at the ceremony, the latest name to be thrown into the discussion is that of British singer Rebecca Ferguson, who rose to fame after becoming the 2010 runner-up in the U.K. series of "The X Factor".

Ferguson tweeted out a link to an online post, which said in it that she had been asked about the inauguration and that she would "graciously accept (the) invitation" to perform, if she gets to sing "Strange Fruit".

"I've been asked and this is my answer," Ferguson wrote in a post on TwitLonger. "If you allow me to sing 'Strange fruit,' a song that has huge historical importance, a song that was blacklisted in the United States for being too controversial."


Rebecca Ferguson appears on NBC News' 'Today' show
Peter Kramer/NBC NewsWire | NBCUniversal | Getty Images

"A song that speaks to all the disregarded and down-trodden black people in the United States. A song that is a reminder of how love is the only thing that will conquer all the hatred in this world, then I will graciously accept your invitation and see you in Washington," she added in the post, published Monday.

The protest song "Strange Fruit" was originally written as a poem by Abel Meeropol and was recorded as a song by Billie Holiday in 1939, which would later be covered by Nina Simone.

Lyrics from the song include: "Southern trees bear a strange fruit / Blood on the leaves and blood at the root / Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze / Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees."

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Given the picture the song illustrates, Ferguson said it spoke to "all the disregarded and down-trodden black people in the United States".

CNBC has reached out for comment on the U.K. singer's response to the Presidential Inaugural Committee, but has yet to receive a reply. When contacted by CNBC, Rebecca Ferguson's publicist said they had no further comment on the matter.

In December, Trump's inaugural committee confirmed that 16-year-old singer Jackie Evancho, who performed on "America's Got Talent" when she was ten, would sing the U.S. National Anthem at Trump's swearing in ceremony, set to take place on January 20, 2017.

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