Jackie Evancho And Transgender Sister Interviewed About Trump

Nearly everyone has turned down the invitation to perform at President-elect Donald Trump‘s inauguration on January 20, save for ’80s cover band The Reagan Years, New Jersey Bruce Springsteen tribute act The B Street Band, DJ Freedom and, perhaps the biggest name of them all, Jackie Evancho.

Evancho is a 16-year-old pop/classical singer who won America’s Got Talent in 2010, and has also performed in front of President Obama on two occasions. One interesting factor is that Jackie, who lives in a northern Pittsburgh suburb, has an older, transgender sister, Jennifer — something that seems at odds with the whole evil empire Trump is building (particularly with regards to Vice President-elect Mike Pence‘s past anti-LGBT stances). The Evancho family is currently suing the Pine-Richland school district over Jennifer’s right to use women’s bathrooms.

The New York Times spent time with Jackie and her family at their home, and tried to get an answer to the one big question: Why exactly is Jackie performing for Trump?

“I just kind of thought that this is for my country,” Jackie said to the publication. “So if people are going to hate on me it’s for the wrong reason.”

And people have been hating on her. Evancho spoke to People in December about the online bullying she’s received since announcing that she would be singing the National Anthem at Trump’s inauguration. For the record, Jennifer will be skipping out on joining her sister in Washington D.C. next Friday.

The Times piece portrays the Evanchos as a very close-knit family, and notes that Jackie supports her sister’s fight with their local school district “100 percent.” As for the lawsuit itself, the teen star said, “For me it’s not political. It’s just accepting people for who they are.”

Jackie’s 47-year-old father, Mike Evancho — who wouldn’t disclose who he voted for in the 2016 election — told the Times, “We’re fighting this discrimination at the high school. It doesn’t matter who’s going into the office, we would still fight that fight.”

Fair enough. But the writing seems to be on the wall here: If you’re making the schlep out of state to sing for the orange pile of garbage, cut the coy shit and just be up front by admitting that you’re supportive of him as president.

Keep up with more pop music news by hitting us up on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.