I Just Can't Wait To Be King

Tearing me down is not taking money out of my pockets

The mic was on, the rent was due, the haters were mad.

I performed as Young Simba during The Lion King's 30th Anniversary concert at the Hollywood Bowl. The amount of people who were so pressed about my casting is sad. The jealousy was out of control. Instead of working on yourselves, you all decided to hate outside the club.

Just know that tearing me down is not taking money out of my pockets.

Get a job!

Let’s be clear. I’ve worked hard to get where I am today. I’m not an overnight success. To imply that I was cast because of nepotism is disrespectful to my talent, work ethic, and resume.

Consider this, my mom had a clothing line at Sears and promoted salads at Carl’s Jr. This woman dated Pete Davidson. Do you really think that’s helping me get my foot in any door? Most of the time I have to pretend I don’t know that woman.

Don’t even get me started on DadYe. Nobu almost canceled my reservation when they saw my last name.

Now, I have the Maliaks book my table under a pseudonym: Angela Bassett.

I’ve been a household name since birth, on my merit. If anyone’s credibility should be questioned it should be Jennifer Hudson’s. She’s reached EGOT status, but you can’t tell me what she has won these awards for.

Jennifer was in Cats.

We need to be asking what strings were pulled to get her cast in this production.

With that said, I can admit that I sounded a bit pitchy during my performance. That’s because this production was a complete mess. It was not up to my standards at all. I told you guys I suspect that Disney is about to file for bankruptcy and after what I just endured, I’m standing on that.

First of all, there were no rehearsals and there was no sound check. I wanted to meet with the band to go over key changes, but I was told that wasn’t possible because it wouldn’t be fair to the other performers. As if it’s my fault the other performers don’t take their craft as seriously as I do.

Ultimately, I had to practice “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King” at home and The Malikas stood in as Zazu.

The night of my performance the band did not play the song in my key and my in-ear monitors were not working. On top of that, I was lost on stage. I didn’t know where to stand because they didn’t give me my marks as I had asked.

When it came time for me to hit my big note, I was all over the place. My performance is a direct reflection of Disney’s lack of professionalism and organization.

Not my fault.

Let’s talk about my wardrobe and accommodations. Kris told me a week before my performance that Disney would not be providing my costume and I needed to show up to the Hollywood Bowl camera-ready. I was also not being provided with a dressing room.

So for a 2-night performance, they expected me to show up dressed and they were going to push me on stage, like some circus animal.

This was an oversight by Kris and Jenner Communications. Why weren’t my costume, dressing room, and my rider included in the contract?

My team scrambled to find designers that could pull something together last minute. I was looking for something that said “The Lion King”, but still kept fashion at the forefront. I ended up wearing custom ERL.

It was giving more Big Bird than Young Simba, but It was the best we could do with the time we were given.

And for people that felt the need to be extra critical about my costume, I’d love to see some of you pull this off days before a huge show. You don’t have the money or the resources, so I don’t want to hear it!

After this all dies down, I told the Malikas to remind me to look into new representation. Kris is never going to get the chance to embarrass me again.

At the end of the day, I did Disney a huge favor. No one would be talking about this ridiculous show if it wasn’t for me.

You’re welcome, Disney and don’t ask me for nothing else.