photo courtesy of TMZ
Legendary singer Gladys Knight calls out President Joe Biden for reportedly ignoring her and her company’s request to discuss support concerning Riccino Optical’s distribution and work with COVID PPE products. As reported in a meeting with TMZ Live on March 27, the music icon recounted a thoughtful letter written to Biden that was blatantly ignored.
The letter read, “Are the problems associated with African Americans not equal to those of other races? Why do we have to be last?”
She claimed that the government consistently supports the “good old boys’ network of Washington D.C. insiders.”
“It is extraordinarily insulting to watch news reports … that a boy band from South Korea, BTS, had an in-person meeting with President Biden. As a longtime Democrat and Civil rights warrior, as well as a legendary entertainer that has met with President Biden many times in my life, the difficulty of setting up a meeting with him over these issues makes no sense.”
Knight added, “It appears as if only youth-oriented artists, even if they are not Americans, will be greeted in the ‘People’s House’ by our President. I know it is always harder for African Americans to get justice and a fair level playing fields in business, but this is becoming ludicrous.”
Knight and her husband, William McDowell, sat down with TMZ to discuss her frustration. They said that despite going through all the proper channels, Biden wouldn’t give 15 minutes to the couple for a meeting, even though their company Riccino Optical wants to do kind of work distributing PPE to people like antigen tests, anti-fog goggles, and face shields. Knight has been trying to meet with Biden since 2021 to get approval on a government contract to provide PPE to the mass public, and when they finally got to meet him in the White House, he explicitly turned down the meeting to their face.