Pop star Lizzo has sparked an uproar after she promised that America would look like Detroit if Kamala Harris was elected to the White House.
The singer, 36, who hails from Motor City, appeared alongside the Democratic presidential nominee at Western International High School in the city.
The star, real name Melissa Viviane Jefferson, said: ‘I’m so proud to be from this city, you know they say if Kamala wins then the whole country will be like Detroit.
‘Proud like Detroit, resilient like Detroit. The same Detroit that innovated the auto industry and the music industry. Put some respect on Detroit’s name.’
Her comments have since been blasted on social media after users pointed out that the city has been in a state of decay and decline for decades.
One person wrote: ‘Regardless of Lizzo’s strenuous efforts to spin it, all that will be ringing in people’s subconscious is: “Kamala will turn America into impoverished, run down, and unsafe, Detroit”.’
Another added: ‘If Kamala is elected the whole country Will look like Detroit. A decimated car industry. A top ten city in crime statistics.’
One other commented: ‘So Lizzo just told us the entire country will go to hell just like Detroit if we vote for Kamala!’
After the clip was widely shared on X, another said: ‘That was a Trump endorsement if I’ve ever had one. Lol.’
The singer burst into her song ‘About Damn Time’ during the event after those who gathered at the rally shouted out that they couldn’t hear her.
She appeared with the Vice President to host an event urging those in Michigan to get out and vote as the city’s first day of early voting started.
Harris urged her supporters to put in an all-out effort aimed at winning on Election Day Nov. 5.
She said: ‘And what I think we all know is, on Election Day, we don’t want to have any regrets about what we could have done these next 17 days, and on November 5.’
Speaking with reporters, she added: ‘Donald Trump has proven himself to be increasingly unstable and unfit and he is trying to take us backward.’
Detroit had boasted around 1.8 million residents in the 1950s, but numbers shrunk as tens of thousands of white residents fled to the suburbs, followed years later by the Black middle class.
These hardships spilled over into the 21st century as the auto industry shrunk and jobs dried up.
Just over a decade ago, the city filed for federal bankruptcy protection after a years-long financial crisis.
With debts topping $18 billion, the city could no longer pay its bills and was unable to provide basic services to its residents.
This sent thousands flocking elsewhere, and the city suffered an unprecedented population decline. Numbers fell to roughly 685,000 by the end of 2012.
In recent years however it is slowly starting to revitalize itself, with jobs more readily available and property prices climbing.
The city poured funds into infrastructure and building projects including the famous Michigan Central Station, which reopened in July after 30 years of laying vacant.
It was one regarded as one of the most violent cities in America but crime rates have slowly started to turn.
The city finished 2023 with 252 homicides, the fewest recorded since 1966, and a 16 percent drop in nonfatal shootings, according to the Detroit Police Department.
