Shortly after Michelle Obama gave her stirring speech on Monday night to help kick off the Democratic National Convention in Philly, Kelly Clarkson praised the First Lady’s eloquence and grace, tweeting, “Damn! Just saw Michelle Obama’s speech at DNC tonight! That was amazing! Love her.” In addition to her thoughtful comments about balancing her duties as the first spouse and motherhood, Obama also described the feeling of “waking up every morning in a house that was built by slaves” and watching her daughters play on the White House lawn.
A Twitter user named @coffeebeans responded to Clarkson’s tweet with the (since deleted) comment, “I’m not sure I liked the part where she said the White House was built by slaves.” Clarkson snapped back hard with a tweet that set off a storm of virtual handclaps. “Pretty certain the slaves that built it didn’t like it either,” she wrote.
Pretty certain the slaves that built it didn’t like it either. https://t.co/iV9p344IYZ
— Kelly Clarkson (@kelly_clarkson) July 26, 2016
That, in turn, set off a flurry of responses that just keep coming.
@kelly_clarkson -You are absolutely CORRECT. Yes, Slaves built the White House (US History). https://t.co/N24r6DEyb3
— Kathryn Croft (@KathrynCroft) July 27, 2016
@Honeybeeontime He didn’t care for #FLOTUS remarks about slaves building White House! Kelly Clarkson said ‘The slaves probably didn’t either
— (((Irish Rose))) ? (@mrosestl) July 26, 2016
@kelly_clarkson White people in denial be like, “Do you have a video of slaves building the White House?”
— Michael A Van Allen (@DrMAVA) July 26, 2016
@grimdoggie @TheNewYorkBlvd @kelly_clarkson Apparently, slaves, free blacks and Europeans built it https://t.co/eANVHT1gnT
— karla marquez (@karlamKFI) July 26, 2016
. @CedarPosts @kelly_clarkson @hiattb @coffeebeansrock You mean the James Hoban whose slaves built the White House? pic.twitter.com/j811SLHcVe
— Azie Dungey (@AzieDee) July 26, 2016