Etta James might have put superstar Beyonce on blast for singing her signature song, “At Last,” at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball after Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration, but the music legend said it was just a joke.
During a concert in Seattle on January 28, Etta told the crowd, “I tell you, that woman he has singing for him, singing my song, she gonna get her a** whipped… I can’t stand Beyonce, she had no business up there singing… my song that I’ve been singing forever.”
However on Thursday, Etta told The New York Daily News, “I didn’t really mean anything. Even as a little child, I’ve always had that comedian kind of attitude. … That’s probably what went into it.”
“Nobody was getting mad at me in Seattle,” she continued. “They were all laughing, and it was funny.”
The singer did admit to being a little hurt that she was not invited to sing for President Obama, saying she was “feeling left out of something that was basically mine, that I had done every time you look around.”
And when it came to rating Beyonce’s rendition of her iconic song, Etta said she liked it, but when asked if she could have performed it better, Etta answered, “I think so. That’s a shame to say that.”
As for President Obama, who she referred to as “the one with the big ears,” she believes he’s focused on more important things.
“I still had my joke about him. That might be horrible. The President might not ever like me in life,” she added. “He’s got other stuff [to worry about] besides Etta James.”
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