Jill Scott SLAMMED for changing lyrics to national anthem, claiming US is 'home of the slaves'

Award-winning singer/songwriter Jill Scott is facing backlash over her rendition of the United States national anthem in which she changed the words to portray the country as hateful and hopeless.

Scott performed her version of the Star Spangled Banner during a set at the Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans on Sunday, and while it largely received praise from the audience, outside the arena Americans were not pleased with the words she had chosen to describe their great republic.



Scott borrowed the tune of the national anthem and inserted her own lyrics into the place of those that have been sung since 1931.

"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, say, does this truth hold any weight,
This is not the land of the free, but the home of the slaves."

On Wednesday, Essence Fest posted a clip of Scott's performance to Twitter with the caption, "Everyone please rise for the only National Anthem we will be recognizing from this day forward."

Many were quick to criticize Scott, among them podcaster and frequent Fox News guest Jason Whitlock.

"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. Turned bitching and grifting into an art form."

Prominent Republican political candidate and commentator Lavern Spicer slammed Scott's rendition as "WOKE," questioning why the singer had decided to go off about the oppression of black people in a country like the United States.

"Jill Scott's net worth is estimated to be $12 MILLION and is likely much higher," Spicer pointed out. "In what way is she oppressed?"

"No one should use the National Anthem to express their hatred for America," wrote Rep. Lauren Boebert. "Too many men and women have sacrificed their lives for our great nation to tolerate this. Shameful."