Nicole Scherzinger’s former Pussycat Dolls bandmate Melody Thornton seemed to shade the star over her apparent endorsement of Donald Trump this week.
Scherzinger, 46, angered fans after she commented on Russell Brand’s ‘Make Jesus First Again’ post on Election Day Tuesday – with fans accusing her of ‘coming out as a Trump supporter’ amid the businessman’s second presidential election win.
Thornton, 40 – who has had an famously acrimonious relationship with Scherzinger – took to Instagram on Thursday to reshare a 2016 snap of Ben Affleck smoking with a pained expression on his face – which has become a famed internet meme.
Fans quickly commented: ‘She always knew!’, ‘Melody been a little down since election, let’s support the Queen that was always knew it’ and ‘Lmaooo im here for it.’
Since the demise of PCD Melody has made no secret of the drama within the group.
Nicole Scherzinger’s former Pussycat Dolls bandmate Melody Thornton seemed to shade the star over her apparent endorsement of Donald Trump this week.
Scherzinger angered fans after she gave Russell Brand’s ‘Make Jesus First Again’ the thumb’s up
Scherzinger’s comment sparked anger from followers and she has now deleted it
A viral video showed the group performing at the American Music Awards in 2006.
Nicole is seen taking the lead while the others dance behind her, before Melody suddenly takes center stage to showcase her vocal prowess – much to the annoyance of Nicole.
Nicole’s supposed fury didn’t go unnoticed, with one fan previously sharing on Twitter : ‘In honour of the Pussycat Dolls reunion, a moment for the time Melody Thornton went rogue doing ad-libs and Nicole Scherzinger was visibly raging’
Other comments on social media included: ‘To be backstage after this performance would have been so epic
‘Nicole deserved it! She literally locked Melody in the closet so she would not perform, but the good sis escaped and came to steal the show at the last minute. Nicole was mad she escaped.
‘Nicole was giving her that “stay in your lane” look’ and ‘Sis really stretched them Adlibs as long as she could.’
Melody has taken past swipes at Nicole as she admitted she struggled to find her voice in the group.
During an appearance on Lorraine, the belter explained: ‘The issue for me stemmed… she’s [Nicole] got this Christina Aguilera style ability and I thought my dreams were going to happen. Then the gears shifted hard.
Thornton, 40 – who has had an famously acrimonious relationship with Scherzinger – took to Instagram on Thursday to reshare a 2016 snap of Ben Affleck smoking with a pained expression on his face – which has become a famed internet meme
Fans quickly supported Melody on social media
Since the demise of PCD Melody has made no secret of the drama within the group – pictured 2006 with Scherzinger, Jessica Sutta, Ashley Roberts, Carmit Bachar and Kimberly Wyatt
‘Nicole had been in two groups prior and she had all of this experience recording albums and so they said, “We’re going to have Nicole do all of the recording, you’re going to have to learn and you’re going to have dance with the rest of the girls”.
‘I wasn’t using my best asset… and people were getting to know me for something I didn’t do and I was the weakest dancer. It was just really challenging, it was tough. But we did have fun, but that’s your introduction into the adult world.’
‘For me, I’m primarily a vocalist and a lot of people don’t know that and so I got into the group and they said ‘you’re gonna be dancing’ and I was like ‘I can’t dance!’
‘And it was a really difficult time for me so when it was over I was like ‘great, next chapter,” she said.
The Dolls reunited in 2019 but Melody did not join them with founder Robin Antin saying the time ‘wasn’t right for her.’
This comes amid huge backlash against Nicole after her now-deleted comment on Russell’s post which showed him proudly brandishing a red ‘Make Jesus First Again’ hat. ‘God Bless America,’ he captioned the post.
Scherzinger showed her fondness for the MAGA-resembling accessory as she chimed in the comments: ‘Where do I get this hat!!!?’ along with the prayer hands and red heart emojis.
A viral video showed the group performing at the American Music Awards in 2006. – with Melody appearing to rush the stage to show off her vocals
Nicole is seen taking the lead while the others dance behind her, before Melody suddenly takes center stage to showcase her vocal prowess – much to the annoyance of Nicole
The Pussycat Dolls singer does not appear to have ‘liked’ the image and she has not publicly endorsed a candidate, but either way her appreciation for the hat sparked anger from fellow Instagram users.
DailyMail.com has contacted a representative for Scherzinger for comment.
The original photo was shared before Donald Trump, whose slogan has been ‘Make America Great Again’, won the presidential election over Kamala Harris.
Instagram followers replied to Nicole with ‘No, hun, this ain’t it at all.’
‘F***ing hell, Nicole, not this,’ another wrote.
‘Nice, predator enabling,’ another wrote. Last year, Russell was accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse dating back to the height of his career, with police investigating claims. Brand has vehemently denied all allegations.
Trump has faced numerous allegations of sexual misconduct as well and last May a jury in New York found Trump liable for the sexual abuse of writer E Jean Carroll.
On X, a follower tweeted of her remark: ‘Nicole Scherzinger coming out as a trump supporter makes perfect sense.’
One quipped that the post may have hurt the Sunset Blvd. star’s odds at getting a Tony.
‘Well the Best Actress Tony race just got a little less competitive,’ another tweeted.
Scherzinger was notably raised Catholic – in a 2019 interview with The Guardian she said she goes to church multiple times a week.
English actor Brand, meanwhile, has previously weighed in on American politics.
In June, before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and his vice president Kamala Harris stepped in, Brand said he found it difficult to understand why ‘freedom-loving’ Americans would choose to vote for Biden over Trump.
In an episode of his podcast, ‘Stay Free With Russell Brand’, Brand expressed his dissatisfaction with the US presidential election.
Brand, who has been vocal against censorship, said he feels ‘concerned’ about the ‘snobbery, contempt and condemnation’ by liberals of Trump supporters who are ‘plainly held by his detractors’, adding that they have been responsible for the ‘weaponization of the legal system’.
An X user remarked Scherzinger was ‘coming out as a Trump supporter’
Another quipped Schzeringer’s odds for a Tony decreased following her comment
‘In a straight choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, if you care about democracy, if you care about freedom, I don’t know how you could do anything other than vote for Donald Trump for precisely the reasons that they claim that you can’t,’ the comedian said.
He went on to say that ‘they act as if a vote for is almost like you’re directly voting for Armageddon, like you see hysterical performances outside of courtrooms, endless MSNBC bombast.’
‘But I’m starting to think that no, a greater threat to democracy is this kind of technological feudalism, that tells you that it cares about you and that it’s protecting vulnerable people, all the while increasing censorship, increasing the funding of wars, increasing the division between ordinary Americans,’ he added.
