R&B singer The Weeknd and rapper Belly cancelled their scheduled performance on Thursday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live because Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is also set to appear on the show that night.
“To play my part in this business is a privilege and a beautiful thing.” the Palestinian-born, Canada-based Belly told the Associated Press. “The fact that I could lose that ability through the actions of someone such as Donald Trump isn’t right to me. At all.”
Belly, born Ahmad Balshe, was set to perform his hit single “Might Not” alongside fellow Canadian singer The Weekend.
In the song, the 32-year-old MC raps about promiscuous women sending him naked pictures, doing drugs and “gettin’ hoes higher.”
Hippy bitches sendin’ me titty pictures
She told me no religion was the new religion
She said she don’t believe in God but her shoes Christian
I heard she servin’ everybody like the soup kitchen
Gettin’ hoes higher, gettin’ hoes higher
She got work in the mornin’, I’m gettin’ hoes fired
Why the f*ck you call it purp when you mix it pink?
You know I f*ckin’ mix the drinks when the sh*t’s too strong
“I’m here on a campaign of positivity and love and to contribute what I can to music,” Belly’s statement said. “I create songs people go to sleep and wake up to, songs that they fall in love to. For me, being Muslim and being somebody that appreciates my access here in America, I love the fact that I’m able to be here.”
“I feel like the way I was raised was to be able to see through all the titles in this world—from religion to race,” he added.
“I just didn’t want to feel like I was a part of a celebration for somebody who has beliefs that majority of us don’t agree with,” the rapper said of Trump, who has called for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration.
Grammy Award-winning jazz singer Gregory Porter will perform on Thursday night’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, in place of Belly and The Weeknd.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson
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