Jewel apologizes forx disappointing fans for performance at RFK Jr inauguration event
‘You Weren’t Meant For Me’ singer said she doesn’t agree ‘on all the politics’
Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music
Get our Now Hear This email for free
Get our Now Hear This email for free
I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy
Singer-songwriter Jewel has issued a lengthy video apology to fans who were disappointed by her recent performance at an inauguration event honoring Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Earlier this week, the “You Were Meant For Me” singer, 50, performed a rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” at Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” ball held in Washington D.C.
Her appearance was met with criticism from fans, upset about Jewel’s apparent support of the new Trump administration.
She addressed the backlash in the video shared on Instagram, indicating that she had hoped her participation at the event might impact the new administration’s attention to mental health issues, which are profoundly important to her. And Kennedy, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services, would be in a key position to address the problem.
While Jewel said she does “not agree on all the politics,” she also noted that she believes there are some people in the new administration “that are willing to help on this issue.”
As “many of you know, I am a mental health advocate. If there’s anything that I’ve learned in the past 20 years, it’s that mental health affects everybody’s lives across party lines,” she said in the video.
“I reached out to the last administration, spoke with the surgeon general about the mental health crisis that’s facing our nation. I don’t know if you guys know the stats, but it is bleak,” she added.
Sharing that one in four children “are considering unaliving themselves,” Jewel noted: “I believe that there are things we can do to save lives. I believe I can help, and if I believe I can help, I have to try. And if I wait to try until I agree 100 percent with the people that might be willing to help me, I’d never get off the bench.”
Jewel defended her performance at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s ‘Make America Healthy Again’ ball ( Getty Images)
She also emphasized: “I don’t think that’s how activism works — waiting until everything’s perfect enough to participate. It’s actually … because things are so imperfect that we have to find ways to engage and to participate. And we have to act now. We cannot wait another four years.”
Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music
Sign up now for a 4 month free trial (3 months for non-Prime members)
Sign up
Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music
Sign up now for a 4 month free trial (3 months for non-Prime members)
Sign up
“If I can help shape policy, make sure mental health is in the conversation … If I can help put resources or mental health tools into the hands of the most vulnerable who need it, I’m going to try and I’m going to fight,” Jewel continued.
She added: “I understand that my words were overly simplistic. Half of our country feels hope right now, and I honor that. And half of our country feels disenfranchised and scared and vulnerable, and that is unacceptable.”
She further apologized for “causing pain” among her longtime fans, especially her LGBT+ supporters, whom she credited for making the world and her life “a better place.”
“It pains me, and I’m so sorry that some of my longtime fans feel that I have let them down,” Jewel added.
“I want to be a ray of light in this world. I try hard to be a ray of light in your lives. And I know that in times of darkness we must grow light, and so I will wake up again tomorrow and try again. And I will count on each of you to do the same,” she said
Kennedy, who has controversially attacked vaccines, is currently awaiting his Senate confirmation hearing, which has been scheduled for January 29.