At the end of 2025, Nelly announced a big world tour set to kick off this spring. Apparently, he also wanted to sabotage its ticket sales (or worse, make sure only a certain type of person attends), because the rapper is taking the opportunity to perform as part of Donald Trump's inauguration festivities following the xenophobic convicted sexual predator being sworn in as US president again today.
Nelly will join the likes of Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Kid Rock, Village People, Billy Ray Cyrus, Rascal Flatts and Gavin DeGraw on the lineup curated by Trump's team for a total of three official inaugural celebrations. Most of these people are likely suspects, but some were surprised by Nelly's decision to perform at the Liberty Ball. He addressed the criticism in a new interview with Willie D of Geto Boys, defending his choice by saying the opportunity was "an honour."
"I didn't know that I had to agree with your political choices," the rapper said [as transcribed by Stereogum]. "If you follow what I do, this shouldn't even be an argument. [Trump's] the president. He won," he continued, throwing in some classic right-wing banalities about how "the things you do" are more important than "the things you say should be done."
Nelly went on, "I'm not doing this for money. I'm doing this because it's an honour. I respect the office. It don't matter who is in office. The same way our brothers and sisters go to war to put their life on the line for whoever is in office. So, if they can put their life on the line for whoever is in office, I can damn sure perform for whoever is in office."
The rapper claimed that he would have accepted the opportunity to perform at the inauguration no matter who was being inaugurated, which kind of seems unlikely! You can check out the full 50-minute interview below.