Speaking in a Breitbart News interview, Joy Villa, the singer who wore a news-making pro-Trump dress at Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, said she was motivated by the drive to change Hollywood’s “suppressive atmosphere” toward Trump supporters.
Saying you support Trump “should not be something that is almost illegal in this society,” Villa said. “And that’s what it felt like. It felt like a suppressive atmosphere,” she said, referring to Hollywood.
Upon arriving at the Grammys, Villa took off a white robe to reveal a red, white and blue dress emblazoned with the sparkling words “Make America Great Again” and had “Trump” on the hem. Villa’s publicity-garnering Grammys appearance skyrocketed her Album to #1 on Amazon’s digital chart.
Villa confirmed to this reporter that she is a Trump supporter and that she voted for the president.
Asked why she decided to essentially troll the Grammys, Villa explained that she was “tired” of Hollywood’s treatment of Trump supporters.
“I was tired of the bullying,” she said in a phone interview. “I was tired of being pushed down so that I couldn’t say my beliefs. And being fearful of losing sales. Losing fans. Losing bookings. Losing contracts and sponsorship. You know, that’s my day to day. And a lot of my friends have the same thing. And we live in Hollywood, which is supposed to be the most open viewpoint city. But the truth is there was a lot of hate and a lot of negativity and I wanted to change the storyline to love and support and unity as an American.”
When it comes to being a Trump supporter in the entertainment industry, Villa said that in her experience “either you don’t talk about it with your friends because you fear you will lose friendships and you will incite negativity. Or you don’t say it at all.”
She continued:
“You can’t even talk about it with other supporters because you feel like, ‘I don’t want people to find out.’ It was really like a closeted feeling. And I know gay Trump supporters in my community who say, ‘This feels like being closeted again. I feel like I can’t come out of the closet and talk about being a Trump supporter because I will get attacked.’”
Widely expecting a largely negative reaction at the Grammys, Villa said she was surprised that most of the people who approached her there actually urged her on.
“Honestly, I did get some hate,” she said. “I got some dirty looks. I got a guy who said, ‘I would like to step on it.’ You know. I got the negativity. But they didn’t come up to me and say anything except for that one person. The people who poured their heart and soul and actually came up to me and took photos with me and said I just wanted to tell you I love you. I love your dress. I love what you’re doing. Those were the overwhelming majority that day. Even at the Grammys.”
She said she was motivated to wear the dress as an attempt to “just to bring us together and to start a dialogue.”
“Like hey, maybe if she is proud of what she believes in maybe I can leave her alone. Maybe I can leave my friend alone. Maybe I can leave my brother alone. Maybe I can actually still love them even though they disagree with my politics. That’s what we need. A little bit of tolerance.”
The full interview will air on this reporter’s Sunday night talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” broadcast on New York’s AM 970 The Answer and NewsTalk 990 AM.
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
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