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The 13th annual Jazz in the Gardens festival in Miami Gardens, Florida took place over the weekend, and among the big performers there included Fantasia, Anita Baker, Joe, Smokey Robinson, and Chaka Khan. The latter, however, had the Internet abuzz during her show on Saturday, and not for good reason.
The 64-year-old took the stage and according to Jazz in the Gardens attendees, she struggled to remember lines from some of her classics, her voice was shaky at times, and overall, she moved around the stage like she wasn’t feeling 100 percent. Of the clips we’ve seen, she didn’t seem that intolerable to watch. But responses to her performance on Twitter that evening told another story, going from confused to upset, with people like producer and singer Rico Love sharing disappointment:
Chaka is obviously a legend and wasn’t going to sit back and let people just say anything about her. Some of the commentary included people even accusing her of being “high” during her performance. And as someone who’s dealt with substance abuse in the past, including a recent stint in rehab in 2016, such claims aren’t to be taken lightly. So a rep for the singer put out a statement, telling The Jasmine Brand that she “has been supporting her scheduled show dates as she has been battling the flu for a number of weeks despite the doctor’s orders to cancel these shows and rest. Unfortunately Chaka not wanting to disappoint her fans has performed, while not totally 100%, and the media has been turning these difficult performances into something else.”
“Chaka values her fans and supporters and would never do anything to jeopardize their support and love,” the rep added. “Under doctor’s orders Chaka will be resting for the remainder of the week until her next performance engagement in Macon, GA, Saturday, March 24th.”
So with that being said, can we put some respect on Chaka’s name?
