By Laura Onyeneho
When Donald Trump was finally elected President, it felt like the air had been sucked out of the room–again.
Black folks across the country already knew what time it was. We braced ourselves for the racism that would no longer hide behind closed doors, for the policies that would hit our communities first and hardest and for the public figures who would cash in on the chaos.
And wouldn’t you know it, a handful of Black celebrities saw opportunity. Suddenly, Trump wasn’t the same man who called for the execution of the Central Park Five. He wasn’t the reality TV caricature. He was a “disruptor,” an “outsider,” a “savior for Black America.” Or so they claimed.
Now, some of those same folks like conservative political commentator Candace Owens and rapper Azealia Banks are having “ah-ha” moments. Or at least that’s what it looks like on the surface.
Let’s start with Candace. For years, she built a career defending Trump’s every move, no matter how egregious. She mocked Black Lives Matter, downplayed systemic racism and labeled other Black folks “victims” for demanding justice. But suddenly and not coincidentally, as Trump’s actions continue to create havoc, she expresses disappointment in the man she once celebrated.
“The Trump administration is fighting against free speech in America. And that is very sad for me to say and report as someone who has supported Donald Trump,” she said in a YouTube clip.
Candace expressed her support for Harvard University despite Trump’s criticism. She criticized the Trump administration’s demands, including discontinuing diversity, equity and inclusion hiring processes, which Harvard’s president, Alan M. Garber, criticized as government overreach. She believes he doesn’t recognize the current situation.
The administration froze $2.2 billion in federal grants, leading Harvard to file a lawsuit against them. Candace sided with Harvard, expressing confusion over the President’s attempt to suppress free speech, claiming it’s messy and obvious, while pretending to fight DEI.
Then there’s Azealia Banks, an artist who thrives on contradiction. Banks, who has since switched her account to private, wrote on X: “Ok I think it’s time everyone who voted for Trump admit that we made a f—–g mess.” But where was this clarity in 2016 or 2020, when it mattered most?
Azealia has praised Trump as her “hero” and attended his Florida rally in the past. She criticized the second Trump administration for its close relationship with Elon Musk, a figure she previously feuded with because he “belongs nowhere near American Politics.”
I’m not against people growing or changing their minds—we all evolve. But what frustrates me is how these regrets are being packaged as revelations instead of what they are—consequences.
It’s not enough to simply say, “I regret it.” That’s the floor, not the ceiling. If you used your influence to steer people toward a man who stoked white nationalism, then your responsibility goes beyond words. That means showing up in policy fights affecting the people you misled. That means funding grassroots organizations, endorsing candidates who serve the community and using your platform to unlearn the damage loudly and consistently.
So now that it’s falling apart, my message to them is simple: deal with it. Don’t rebrand, don’t rewrite history and don’t ask for grace without doing the work. You played in Trump’s house. Now that it’s burning down, you don’t get to run from the fire.