Incoming President Joe Biden’s inauguration will be lit now that Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez will make show-stopping appearances.
According to ABC7 News, Gaga, who also appeared on Biden’s campaign trail during the 2020 election and worked with him when he was vice-preside on his “It’s on Us” project to combat campus sexual assault, will sing the national anthem next week when Biden officially becomes the United States 46th president.
His Inaugural Committee also announced on Thursday that Lopez would give a musical performance. Lopez endorsed Biden and appeared in a virtual chat with him during his 2020 election campaign.
The swearing-in ceremony will begin with an invocation from Father Leo J. O’Donovan, the former 44th president of Georgetown University. He is also a longtime friend of Biden and his family.
The first National Youth Poet Laureate from 2017, Amanda Gorman, will do a poetry reading, the outlet reports, and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF), a union that supported Biden and the first to endorse him, will feature a tie.
The pledge of allegiance will be conducted by Andrea Hall, the president of the IAFF Local 3920 located in Georgia and the first African American woman in The City of South Fulton Fire Department’s history to be given the rank of fire captain.
The closing will be delivered by Reverend Dr. Silvester Beaman, another close confidante and friend of Biden for over 30 years. The reverend also worked with Biden’s late son, Beau Biden, who served Delaware’s former attorney general before his death in 2015.
“We are thrilled to announce an inspired group of dynamic participants for the 59th Inaugural Ceremonies. They represent one clear picture of the grand diversity of our great nation and will help honor and celebrate the time-honored traditions of the presidential inauguration,” Inaugural committee CEO Tony Allen stated.
“They are also committed to the President-elect and the Vice-President-elect’s steadfast vision of a new chapter in our American story in which we are an America united in overcoming the deep divisions and challenges facing our people, unifying the country, and restoring the soul of our nation,” he continued, calling back to the thematic hallmarks of Biden’s campaign.
This year’s inauguration will change due to the COVID-19 pandemic but will accommodate at-home audiences. There are also new safety concerns following last week’s riot at the Capitol that left five dead.
Past inaugurations typically included a slew of inaugural balls with high profile performances, but Biden’s team is going ahead with primetime programming the day he goes into office. There will be various live and pre-taped performances from iconic locations across America, including D.C., to accommodate a virtual audience, ABC reported.
There will be a 90-minute cap-off program to the inauguration called “Celebrating America” and hosted by Tom Hanks. The program
will feature Biden, Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris, and performances by Jon Bon Jovi, Demi Lovato, Justin Timberlake, and Ant Clemons.
The program, which is set to air on January 19, will also include events ahead of Biden taking the oath, including National day of Service on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and a nationwide memorial for those who lost their lives to COVID-19.
Biden’s team got creative by replacing the traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue with a “Parade Across America”—the “reimagined” and large virtual event that will have performances in communities around the nation.
Donald Trump let it be known that he would not attend the historic day, but VP Mike Pence is expected to attend.
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