Jackie Evancho, the 16-year-old “America’s Got Talent” star who performed the national anthem at Donald Trump’s inauguration, appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Thursday with a message for President Trump: “I just want to enlighten him.”
Evancho has a transgender sister, Juliet. The siblings appeared on “GMA” in response to Trump’s decision to revoke guidelines that allowed transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms matching their chosen gender identity.
“I guess I just want to enlighten him on what my sister, I’ve seen her go through every single day in school and people just like her, what they deal with,” Jackie Evancho said. “The discrimination, it’s terrible.”
Despite Evancho’s displeasure with Trump’s decision, she doesn’t regret performing at the inauguration.
“The reason why I did sing for the inauguration was not politics,” she said. “It was for the honor and privilege to perform for my country and that will stay the same I think.”
Jackie’s sister, Juliet, is an 18-year-old transgender advocate who was born “Jacob.”
In an interview with CBS News prior to the inauguration, Juliet Evancho said she supported her sister’s decision to perform on Capitol Hill, but did not express her feelings about Trump.
“The way I look at it is, Jackie is singing for our country, and it’s an honor for her to be singing in front of so many people,” she said. “So I feel like that’s really where I look at it. And that’s where I’m going to leave it right now.”