Jewel is addressing the backlash around her surprise performance of "Somewhere Under The Rainbow" at the Make America Healthy Again Ball honoring Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on Monday. RFK is currently Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department Of Health and Human Services and has a history of advocating against vaccines. (According to Politico, RFK is promising the senators who would confirm his role as Health Secretary that he doesn't want to take vaccines away; he instead wants to "make safety and efficacy data more readily available." Whatever, semantics.)
"As many of you know, I am a mental health advocate," Jewel said in a video posted to Instagram. "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. 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 went on: "If I wait to try until I agree 100% with the people that might be willing to help me, I’d never get off the bench. 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.”
Jewel added that she believes there are people in the new Trump administration "[who] are willing to help on this issue," despite the fact that she does "not agree on all the politics."
"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," she continued. "And 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."
Jewel also apologized to her fans in the LGBTQIA+ community, whom she called "treasures." (The future of LGBTQ+ rights under the new administration is currently extremely uncertain; on the first day of his presidency, Trump signed an executive order declaring the US government would only recognize two sexes — male and female — and that they are not changeable.)
"You’ve made my life a better place. And I will not stop fighting," she said. "None of us can afford to stop fighting, and I really believe that the only way we can change is in relationship. It isn't in isolation or by isolating, it's by being in relationship, by reaching out, by having hard conversations, and I really hope that we can push through our hurt and move toward understanding on both sides."
"I want to be a ray of light in this world. I try hard to be a ray of light in your lives. 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."
Jewel's apology is below.
