Chloe Bailey of Beyoncé-signed duo Chloe x Halle recently paid tribute to the late songstress Nina Simone with a silky cover of her classic, “Feeling Good.” Reactions to the cover were polarized, although the granddaughter of the acclaimed songstress RéAnna Simone Kelly took to Twitter to jump to her defense, praising the songstress for the performance.
RéAnna Simone Kelly later took to Twitter once again to air out some family drama, name-dropping current Vice President Kamala Harris as a main player in the situation. Simone’s granddaughter accused Harris of “taking away” the iconic singer’s estate and handing it over “to white people,” which left her so poor she considered “stripping to pay my bills.”
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“Nina’s granddaughter here,” ReAnna Simone Kelly wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “My family doesn’t run her estate anymore. It was taken away from us [and] given to white people. Our family name was DRAGGED in the media. We get NO royalties, nothing. Wanna hold someone accountable? Ask Kamala Harris why she came for my family.”
“Our family name was DRAGGED in the media. We get NO royalties, nothing,” said the 22-year-old of an intense 2013 legal battle over Nina’s estate handling while Harris was serving as attorney general of California. “Wanna hold someone accountable? Ask Kamala Harris why she came for my family,” added Simone Kelly in the lengthy thread.
She continued, “Ask her why she separated my family. Ask her why my grandmothers estate is in SHAMBLES now. Ask her why we as her family no longer own the rights to anything. Ask her why she bullied my mother in court and my mom almost killed herself from the depression.” She also revealed her mother, Lisa Simone, was put under a “gag order,” leaving their family “separated” from the songstress’ legacy.
The rant was over her family losing a legal battle against then-attorney general Kamala Harris with the singer’s daughter Lisa Simone Kelly after she was accused of “breaching her fiduciary duty.” Simone Kelly was then ordered to relinquish her rights to her mother’s work as well as the title of estate administrator. She later took to Instagram to support her daughter, praising her for “coming out blazing.”
Kamala Harris has yet to release a statement regarding the situation.
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