Singer Brandi Carlile drops out of Fortune event over Kirstjen Nielsen’s appearance

Singer Brandi Carlile says she also won’t participate in a Washington, D.C., conference featuring former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

The “Joke” singer was poised to perform at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women summit on Tuesday. But on Monday, Carlile said she was nixing her appearance because Nielsen was one of the featured speakers.

“I don’t think that human rights violators and merit-based abusers of displaced people should be given a platform to ‘reimagine’ history,” Carlile wrote to her more than 100,000 followers on Twitter.

{mosads}”The atrocity of family separation at our Southern border needs to go down in history as one of the United States of America’s most merciless acts,” the Grammy Award-winner wrote.

While noting it’s “rarely her style” to drop out of “such a special appearance,” Carlile said, “Respectfully, I absolutely cannot support Kirstjen Nielsen having a voice among the most powerful and inspiring women in America.”

With respect and gratitude. pic.twitter.com/rhKpRYf6gF

— Brandi Carlile (@brandicarlile) October 21, 2019

President Trump announced in April that Nielsen, the top official in charge of implementing his hard-line immigration policies, would leave her post.

Nielsen is scheduled to be interviewed at Fortune’s conference by “PBS NewsHour’s” Amna Nawaz for a conversation titled, “The Hard Questions.” According to the conference’s website, she’ll address “the horror of family separation, border security, and more.”

The move by Carlile comes days after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly opted out of the event, citing a scheduling conflict. But an unidentified source told Slate that the former Democratic presidential nominee chose to withdraw from the conference upon word that Nielsen was also slated to appear.

Last month, Nielsen bowed out of a speaking event hosted by The Atlantic following backlash from progressive groups.

Among those also on the docket for Fortune’s conference: Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), Anita Hill and fashion designer Tory Burch.