--- title: Donald Trump Inauguration: Mormon Choir Member Quits description: "I could never ‘throw roses to Hitler.’ And I certainly could never sing for him,” the Mormon Tabernacle Choir member wrote in open letter canonical: https://time.com/4619836/donald-trump-inauguration-mormon-tabernacle-choir/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-30T15:33:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T07:12:08.275Z og:title: Mormon Tabernacle Choir Member Quits Instead of Singing at Trump Inauguration og:description: "I could never 'throw roses to Hitler' and I certainly could never sing for him" og:url: https://time.com/4619836/donald-trump-inauguration-mormon-tabernacle-choir/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbde5cc17ab64ba2/6988b432ab6d777f116ac5ba/mormon-tabernacle-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Mormon Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mormon Tabernacle Choir Member Quits Instead of Singing at Trump Inauguration twitter:description: "I could never 'throw roses to Hitler' and I certainly could never sing for him" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbde5cc17ab64ba2/6988b432ab6d777f116ac5ba/mormon-tabernacle-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Mormon Tabernacle Choir Member Quit Instead of Singing at Donald Trump's Inauguration > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=9bfc4901-92e6-41c8-8a66-45d563105e23&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Mormon Tabernacle Choir Member Quits Instead of Performing for Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): Mormon Tabernacle Choir Member Quits Instead of Performing for Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aG7broT1.m3u8) (0:55)  _Published 2016-12-30. A member of the famous mormon tabernacle choir is so opposed to performing at president-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, she quit the group instead._ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 30, 2016 3:33 PM UTC A member of the famous mormon tabernacle choir is so opposed to performing at president-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, she quit the group instead. by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 30, 2016 3:33 PM UTC President-elect [Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/)’s plans for his [inauguration](http://time.com/4617405/jimmy-carter-donald-trump-inauguration/?iid=sr-link1) have hit another bump in the road. A member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which is slated to [perform at the event](http://time.com/4609263/celebrities-on-donald-trump-inauguration-performance/?iid=sr-link2), has quit in protest and penned an open letter explaining her reasoning. Jan Chamberlin announced her resignation from the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-day Saints-affiliated choir in a [note on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/jan.chamberlin.77/posts/10211891389943594?match=amFuIGNoYW1iZXJsaW4sY2hhbWJlcmxpbixqYW4%3D) on Thursday. In the letter, which is addressed to the choir’s leader and her family and friends, Chamberlin said that after reflection and prayer and with “a sad and heavy heart,” she is resigning her position in the choir. “I know the goodness of your hearts. And your desire to go out there and show that we are politically neutral and share good will.” she wrote to her fellow choir members. “I also know, looking from the outside in, it will appear that Choir is endorsing tyranny and fa\[s\]cism by singing for this man.” While an LDS Church spokesman [told the Salt Lake _Tribune_](http://www.sltrib.com/lifestyle/faith/4762845-155/singer-resigns-from-mormon-tabernacle-choir) that choir members are “not required to participate” in the inauguration ceremonies, apparently that wasn’t enough for Chamberlin. “For me, this is a HUGELY moral issue,” she wrote, going on to say that she is very patriotic, and joined the choir to honor her father, who “hated tyranny and was extremely distraught over the holocaust.” She now fears history is repeating itself, writing, “Tyranny is now on our doorstep.” She adds, “I only know I could never ‘throw roses to Hitler.’ And I certainly could never sing for him.” She ended by noting, “My heart is shattered and broken…………. but my conscience is clear. And THAT, really is all that matters.” This open letter comes just a week after it was announced that the [Radio City Rockettes](http://time.com/4617033/rockettes-donald-trump-inauguration/?iid=sr-link1) would also be performing at the inauguration, [despite protests](http://time.com/4617393/rockette-concern-over-donald-trump-inauguration-performance/?iid=sr-link2) from the dancers. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4619836/donald-trump-inauguration-mormon-tabernacle-choir/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4619836/donald-trump-inauguration-mormon-tabernacle-choir/"},"headline":"A Mormon Tabernacle Choir Member Quit Instead of Singing at Donald Trump's Inauguration","datePublished":"2016-12-30T15:33:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T07:12:08.275Z","description":"\"I could never 'throw roses to Hitler' and I certainly could never sing for him\"","url":"https://time.com/4619836/donald-trump-inauguration-mormon-tabernacle-choir/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","2016 presidential election","Donald Trump","inauguration","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbde5cc17ab64ba2/6988b432ab6d777f116ac5ba/mormon-tabernacle-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdbde5cc17ab64ba2/6988b432ab6d777f116ac5ba/mormon-tabernacle-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Mormon Conference","caption":"The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings during the opening session of the two-day Mormon church conference on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, in Salt Lake City.","creditText":"Kim Raff—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4619836/donald-trump-inauguration-mormon-tabernacle-choir/","name":"A Mormon Tabernacle Choir Member Quit Instead of Singing at Donald Trump's Inauguration"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Mormon Tabernacle Choir Member Quits Instead of Performing for Donald Trump","description":"A member of the famous mormon tabernacle choir is so opposed to performing at president-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, she quit the group instead.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/aG7broT1/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-12-30T19:39:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aG7broT1.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4619836/donald-trump-inauguration-mormon-tabernacle-choir/","duration":"PT55S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4619836/donald-trump-inauguration-mormon-tabernacle-choir/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```