The last time we talked about TLC’s Chilli, 55, was when she first got together with Matthew Lawrence, 46, in early 2023. (They’re still together and are cohosting a Hallmark reality show called Second Chance Love.) A summer North America tour featuring TLC, En Vogue and Salt-N-Pepa tour was just announced a week ago. Unfortunately that awesome news got overshadowed after Chilli reposted a far right Michelle Obama conspiracy theory on Instagram. She removed that repost but the damage was done. People dug into her donation records and found out that she gave about $900 to Republican causes, including at least one with Trump in the name, in 2024. Chilli has since recorded a video denying that she’s MAGA, claiming she accidentally reposted that conspiracy theory and that she didn’t realize she was giving to right wing causes. Here’s more, thanks to People:
Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas of TLC is denying claims that she is part of the MAGA movement after public records appeared to show she donated to Donald Trump’s campaign in 2024.
Chilli, 55, shared a message to her followers on Instagram on Saturday, March 28, in which she clarified her political stance.
“I WANT TO BE CLEAR: I am not MAGA and do not support any of the many policies that are causing great harm to the American people,” she began in her post.
“I made a mistake too many make: I did not read the fine print. I thought I was supporting causes against human trafficking and for veterans,” she continued…
Chilli also shared a video of herself in which she further clarified an incident in which she reposted a conspiracy theory related to former first lady Michelle Obama. The singer said she didn’t even realize she had reshared the post and had no intention of doing so.
“Hey guys, I wanted to come on here to address a few things that are circulating on the Internet that’s very concerning to me,” she said.
“Let me say this first: I have the utmost respect and admiration for Michelle Obama, and I would never say or do anything that is disrespectful to her or to any woman,” she continued. “I would never do that.”
“I had no clue that this repost had happened until I started getting phone calls and text messages from everybody, and I immediately went to my page to see what was going on,” Chilli said, adding that she is “not very computer savvy.”
“So I’m looking for this repost button, and I see that …. all of these buttons are very, very close to each other, and clearly, I was scrolling, and my thumb hit the repost button,” the musician explained.
“Again, I had no clue that something like this happened until I got all the calls,” she added.
Federal donation records viewed by PEOPLE show that a person named Rozonda Thomas donated a total of nearly $900 to WinRed, the payment processor for Republican campaign donations, the Trump National Committee JFC and Never Surrender Inc., which has direct ties to Trump, in 2024.
I believe her that she didn’t know she reposted the conspiracy theory. I’ve reposted things by mistake in the Instagram app. It’s true that the buttons are close together and it took me several minutes at my computer to figure out how to undo it. However I don’t follow any right wing accounts so I don’t run the risk of reposting absolute garbage hate like this. She follows MAGA accounts. I don’t believe her that she’s not MAGA. You don’t accidentally donate hundreds of dollars to “Trump National Committee” without supporting Trump. It’s interesting to me that her video cut out right after she finished the part about how she didn’t mean to repost that. How come she didn’t put the part about her “accidental” donations in the video? Why didn’t she conclude the video? Did she ask someone for help with it and they told her to quit while she was ahead? She’s MAGA undercover and was hoping to stay that way until Instagram’s terrible usability outed her. As I’ve seen in analysis videos, she should have owned up to this and admitted her mistake. At least she’s publicly denying supporting Trump’s policies and admitting they harm people. The bar is in hell.
photos are screenshots from YouTube/Sherri Shepherd show and credit Getty Images and via Instagram
I don’t believe a word she says. Chili has always been a Pick Me. She is now connected to a family (The Lawrences) who are very conservative. And it seems that is when her politics shifted. I am firm believer in “when people show you who they are believe them”. She can say whatever she wants. Her actions say something different.
I agree. And I’ve NEVER reposted anything by “mistake”. Girl, please.
When I like IG posts about dogs I get a ton of dog related posts. The only way that showed up on her feed is if she has liked those kinds of posts. She’s a colorist too. She got offended when some one called her chocolate. She responded “no I’m caramel” The damage is done. Salt tried to defend her but it is giving “the mortgage is due and we need to save this tour”
Exactly. The algo is curated to your interests. Which means she regularly engages with that kind of content. Do I think she reposted it by accident? Sure. That simply means she got caught agreeing with something she didn’t want folks to know about.
Exactly! I was about to buy tickets for nostalgia’s sake because I loved this lineup in the 90’s and their collective discography is fire, but not anymore. Anyone who donates to “WinRed” knows she’s donating to repubs and that repubs=trump. I’ll save my money and donate to ActBlue.
Ugh, so disappointing. And this is how I found out about the TLC/Salt n Pepa tour. But yeah, my algorithm never shows me conspiracy theories and certainly nothing that’s not celebratory of Mrs. Obama. She’s made choices, clearly. I’ve also never donated to a repub fund “accidentally” or otherwise. Weird how that kept happening for her.
And agree, the bar is in hell, because at least people immediately reached out to her saying wtf are you doing? And she’s labeling the admin policies as harmful. Tiny baby steps. But so profoundly awful and disappointing.
Yeah she’s definitely MAGA and these excuses (not apologies) are to stem the tide of people demanding ticket refunds from the upcoming tour. She’s made 17 donations in addition to following problematic people (she even donated to Ted Cruz)! Chilli has been saying questionable, colorist, & controversial things for years that had many people side-eyeing her. For some unknown reason, Salt decided to submit a post supporting Chilli (radio silence from T-Boz, Pepa, and En Vogue so far). I know she a “Christian”, but Salt had better be careful bc people haven’t forgotten how they treated Spinderella, and she won’t want the internet sleuths looking into her. These celebrities had better start realizing that people now, more than ever, are using their hard earned money to support those who reflect their values, and if celebrities don’t reflect those values, they won’t spend that money on your products or come to your shows.
She’s ALWAYS given off “anti-Black” vibes…may her career trajectory remain the same 😡
100%. A veritable pick me for White Supremacy. Apparently it was a mistake that she donated to Ted Cruz. She probably thought she was supporting Canada you guys /s.
What bothers me is the cowardice. The fucking cowardice of all of this. She thought she could just damage POC in private.
I knew she was bats*** when she was talking about having a baby with Joey Lawrence. She must have been devastated to discover that a light skinned, mixed raced baby in her 50s is not a guarantee or a given…
(and yes I know in rare exceptions people get pregnant in their 50s – it’s pretty rare). It’s one thing to hope for it, it’s another to give interviews at that age and say it’s a goal. Something is really off with her.
Et tu, Chilli? Very disappointing.