After reports surfaced last week that Andrea Bocelli would be singing at Donald Trump's inauguration next month, the Italian tenor has backed out of the performance due to a ton of backlash from social media users.
Yahoo Celebrity noted that Bocelli was slated to perform at the ceremony with former America's Got Talent runner-up Jackie Evancho, but the #BoycottBocelli hashtag gained so much momentum on Twitter that the opera singer decided to bow out.
One source told Page Six, “Bocelli said there was no way he’d take the gig ... he was ‘getting too much heat’ and he said no.”
However, Donald Trump's inauguration committee Chairman Tom Barrack painted a slightly different picture saying that president-elect did not ask Bocelli to perform but instead Bocelli offered to do so.
“Bocelli and his wife have been friends of Trump from the very beginning … Bocelli is loyal to him as an individual,” Barrack said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “The Bocelli’s came to him and said, ‘Look, if it would be helpful to you, if you would like us to perform, we would consider it.’ [But] Donald said, ‘You don’t need to. We’re not in that kind of a framework. Thanks very much for the offer. You’re my friend. You are always welcome at the White House.'”
So far Evancho is the only confirmed talent scheduled to perform at the ceremony on Jan. 20.