One of the viral moments at the Women’s March in DC on Saturday (and there were so many, did you see this amazing a cappella song?!) was Ashley Judd reciting 19 year-old Nina Donovan’s beat poem about being a nasty woman. You can see her recite it below. Ashley gives proper credit to Nina and explains that she has “given me the privilege of telling you what she has to say.” Some of the shares on social media omitted the introduction and incorrectly attributed the poem to Ashley, but to be fair she was clear that she didn’t write it. Given everything I’ve heard from and about Ashley over the years I wasn’t as moved as others were by her recitation, but my friends who don’t follow gossip as much as I do loved it and shared it. It was a powerful message about how terrible the other side is, and how their racism, homophobia, misogyny and hatred are what’s truly nasty, not us. There was some additional controversy as the poem said Trump’s daughter was his “favorite sex symbol” and that he had wet dreams about her. (To be clear Trump didn’t say that exactly, but he has said very questionable things about Ivanka.) So I can get why Ashley’s poem, delivered so powerfully, could rankle some Republicans but let’s face it those people can get offended by just about anything.
Ashley isn’t close with her half sister (they have the same mom, Naomi), country singer Wynonna Judd. In 2013 Ashley accused Wynonna of putting a tracking device on her car and called the cops over it. Wynonna admitted that she put the tracking device on the car but stated that it was meant for her teenage daughter who was then living with Ashley. So there’s no love lost between Wynonna and Ashley. What’s more is that their mom, Naomi, lives just a mile down the road from Ashley and is close with her but admits she is currently estranged from Wynonna. Wynonna isn’t getting along or speaking with Ashley or Naomi from what I can tell. So that’s context for Wynonna’s Twitter responses about Ashley’s speech at the Women’s March. She tweets incessantly and she spent a lot of time soothing the egos of Trump supporters.
@hall7770 I meant no disrespect. It just makes me sad to be connected to all the toxicity. I'm an artist & I'm fun dangit!✌🏽
— Wynonna (@Wynonna) January 21, 2017
@hall7770 I've performed for 5 presidents. I'm for our country. Period. No matter who's president, God's king. I sing for him & the people.
— Wynonna (@Wynonna) January 21, 2017
@1snowchaser I don't support words of hate. You can love someone & agreed to disagree. In family, we cannot control anyone but ourselves…
— Wynonna (@Wynonna) January 21, 2017
The whole thing is toxic. I'm not giving her all the credit. She doesn't have that kind of power. https://t.co/GuUpBnLFYM
— Wynonna (@Wynonna) January 21, 2017
@JFYoung12 I don't think she has that much power, not with me anyway. I can take care of myself. You watch me.💪🏽
— Wynonna (@Wynonna) January 22, 2017
After that Wynonna defended herself and kind of backed down:
@mrs_silva33 @edmund1530 It's my job to love my sister, not to publicly judge her. That will be a conversation we have personally.
— Wynonna (@Wynonna) January 22, 2017
Lol, I have to say… I love how so many are telling me what I should or should not be doing about my relationship w/ my sister. Wow.
— Wynonna (@Wynonna) January 24, 2017
Last time I saw my sister we hugged. And, in our family we agree to disagree and we support WHO we are. Anyone else relate?
— Wynonna (@Wynonna) January 24, 2017
(1) I will not defend what doesn't need defending, (God knows my heart & my family does too), & (2)
I am not my sister's keeper. The end.
— Wynonna (@Wynonna) January 24, 2017
What she does publicly is none of my business. If she asks, I will tell her what I think personally.
There is a higher power & I am not it.
— Wynonna (@Wynonna) January 24, 2017
🎶🇺🇸🎶 What if we took the next 24hrs and talked about the positive? I'll go first.
We live in the greatest country in the world!!!! 🎶🇺🇸🎶
— Wynonna (@Wynonna) January 24, 2017
So is Wynonna saying that only God can judge Ashley but that she doesn’t agree with Ashley’s position and would play for Trump? She tweeted later that she was invited to perform at the inauguration but obviously she didn’t go or she would have been one of the biggest names there. It was hard to find these tweets because she posts and replies SO MUCH on Twitter, including defending herself to Trump fans. Whatever she means, she knows her audience and you can tell she doesn’t care for Ashley at all. She writes that the last time she saw Ashley she hugged her but I would bet that was LONG time ago. Here are more of her tweets. There are even more I didn’t include and she must spend the whole day on Twitter.
@shanoneads In my earlier tweet I posted that those words were said to me by her and that in spite of them I chose to love anyway.
— Wynonna (@Wynonna) January 21, 2017
@Serenitypleaz1 @TasteOfCountry I think many give themselves way too much credit & think that the world needs to hear what they think.
— Wynonna (@Wynonna) January 22, 2017
Here’s Ashley’s recitation of the nasty woman poem. We do want to hear what celebrities think. We do want to see them at our rallies. I’m sure the other side feels the same, they just have very meager support from Hollywood.
This is from 2004
2003
2001:
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