Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez will headline President-elect Joe Biden‘s and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris‘ inauguration on Wednesday, Jan. 20. The Presidential Inaugural Committee announced Thursday Gaga will perform the national anthem. Lopez will also perform, though details of that “musical performance” were not revealed.
The A-listers’ involvement in the 59th inaugural swearing-in ceremony doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise given their activism history and ties to the Biden administration. Along with working Biden’s “It’s On Us” campaign to address sexual assault on college campuses during the Obama-Biden Administration, Gaga also campaigned for Biden during the general election, campaigning with him in Pennsylvania, where she told a crowd, “Vote for Joe. He’s a good person.” During that same rally, she called President Donald Trump “a man who believes his fame gives him the right to grab one of your daughters or sisters or mothers or wives by any part of their bodies.”
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For her part, Lopez has used her platform amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic to speak out against its disproportionate toll on minority communities. She endorsed Biden in November, explaining that she didn’t want her children to learn that it’s “OK to be racist” from Trump’s administration. She added, “to me, it’s unifying the nation again, getting rid of this hate.”
In addition to Gaga and Lopez, the Thursday announcement confirmed Father Leo J. O’Donovan, former president of Georgetown University and a friend of the Biden family, to be leading the invocation. Andrea Hall, who according to President of the International Association of Firefighters Local 3920 and the first African American woman in her fire department’s history to be promoted to Fire Captain, will lead the Pledge of Allegiance. Amanda Gorman will do a poetry reading and Reverend Dr. Silvester Beaman will give the benediction.
PIC CEO Tony Allen said this “inspired group of dynamic participants” represent “one clear picture of the grand diversity of our great nation and will help honor and celebrate the time-honored traditions of the presidential inauguration.” He added that they are “committed” to Biden and Harris’ “vision of a new chapter in our American story in which we are an America united in overcoming the deep divisions and challenges facing our people, unifying the country, and restoring the soul of our nation.”
The daytime inauguration event, which has the theme “America United,” will be followed by a multi-network TV special titled Celebrating America. The special will be hosted by Oscar-winner Tom Hanks, with performances from Demi Lovato, Justin Timberlake, Jon Bon Jovi, and Ant Clemons. The special is scheduled to air beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET Jan. 20.
