Yacht parties?  Black-tie events?  House boxes at the opera?  For the creme de la creme, the most exclusive night of the year has already came and went.  President Obama’s Inaugural Ball had the most exclusive guest list of the year and thus everyone who was invited made sure that they re-scheduled their calendars around this event.  Everyone saw this event as non-negotiable.  Except for Al Green.

The 66-year-old soul singer, whose popular song “Let’s Stay Together” had the president of the free world singing out lyrics from at a New York fundraiser last year, regretfully declined his invitation to President Obama’s Inauguration Ball which took place Monday because of prior commitments, stating that he would love to give the Obamas another performance at another time.  Instead of returning the favor and singing the same song back to POTUS (President of the United States) and FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States), Al Green stepped back and Jennifer Hudson performed a heart-wrenching rendition of the song instead.

Although we are sad that we couldn’t hear the song performed by the original chanter, we can’t say we’re mad at Green for not showing up.  He did the right thing in our eyes by honoring his prior commitment and sticking to his plans.  And we love Jennifer Hudson, so any chance to hear her sing is one we’ll be jumping at.  And who knows?  Maybe next time the President will honor the audience with one of Hudson’s melodies.