Jill Scott Puts Woke Twist on National Anthem, So Conservatives Quickly Remind Her of Inconvenient Fact
In 2000, a neo-soul singer released a debut album with a title that made her name into a question: “Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1.” That album went platinum and launched Scott into a career in music which continues to this day.
Unfortunately, 23 years later, the world has learned more about who Jill Scott is.
On Wednesday, the black women’s lifestyle magazine Essence tweeted a clip of Scott performing a grotesque vandalization of the national anthem at its Festival of Culture in New Orleans over the Fourth of July weekend.
The Los Angeles Times provided a transcript of Scott’s hatchet job:
Oh say can you see by the blood in the streets
That 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 say, does this truth hold any weight
This is not the land of the free, but the home of the slaves.
Essence was proud of the desecration it sponsored, declaring, “Everyone please rise for the only National Anthem we will be recognizing from this day forward.”
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
Scott sings about how oppressed black people are in America, while at the same time her life tells a very different story. It’s difficult to reconcile her elite status with the accusations she made in the rewrite.
Her net worth is estimated to be $12 million, money earned by being a respected entertainer.
Many took to social media to point out the disparity between Scott’s claims about oppression and her status as a wealthy, privileged American celebrity.
Jason Whitlock, a podcaster with TheBlaze, shared some pithy comments on Scott’s posing.
“The safest, most opportunity-rich place on the planet for black people is the United States of America,” he said. “From the three Marxist lesbians who started BLM to Jill Scott, the black matriarchy keeps writing bad checks.”
Jill Scott’s national anthem, as performed at the Essence Festival:
“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,…
— Jason Whitlock (@WhitlockJason) July 5, 2023
Republican congressional candidate Lavern Spicer also called out the disconnect on Twitter.
“R&B singer Jill Scott did a WOKE rendition of the National Anthem where she changed the lyrics to speak about how oppressed Black people are,” Spicer said. “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?”
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.
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
— Lavern Spicer 🇺🇸 (@lavern_spicer) July 5, 2023
Others shared similar sentiments.
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… pic.twitter.com/rY5WCCOm2h
— Amiri King (@AmiriKing) July 6, 2023
Jill Scott is worth $12 million.
The Democrats have successfully caused, what I believe is, irreparable racial division. One group feels like the forever victim and the other group is furious for being blamed for something they did not do. Untenable. https://t.co/rpPTO0quOD
— Carmine Sabia (@CarmineSabia) July 5, 2023
Self-parody by a pampered , rich singer, posing as oppressed. I sincerely challenge her to live abroad–as I have–in sub-Saharan Africa and consider trading her American life for what she finds there.
— Jake Dodge (@JakeDodge17) July 7, 2023
We sure seem to have a lot of oppressed fat millionaires in this awful country.
— Holly 🇺🇸🐊 (@CrossingUNStyle) July 7, 2023
After performing the song in March, Scott denied the divisiveness of her lyrics, according to the Times.
“When I sing ‘home of the slave,’ that is not intended to divide, because division is not what we need. When I say that, we are in a place that makes us slaves to consumerism, it makes us slaves to social media,” she said, going on to provide other examples of how lies and negativity affect culture.
On Wednesday, the 51-year-old singer from Philadelphia replied to critics without responding to their critiques, offering non sequiturs instead.
“1st -Thank you sincerely for your respect and appreciation,” she said. “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”
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
Ingratitude is far from being beautifully human.
Scott does not appreciate how lucky she is to live in the United States, where she won’t be punished by the government for trashing the national anthem. If anything, the current crowd in Washington cheers on ideas like hers.
No country has done more to abolish slavery and move on from it than the United States. America is the greatest country in the world.
People like Jill Scott aim to keep black people held back by judging them by the color of their skin instead of by the content of their character.
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