Nina Simone's family's accusations of Kamala Harris 'taking away' singer's estate resurface amid 2024 bid

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Nina Simone's granddaughter ReAnna Simone Kelly's accusations against Kamala Harris regarding the singer's estate have resurfaced in light of her presidential bid. 

In 2021, ReAnna, the daughter of Simone’s daughter Lisa Simone Kelly, took to X (formerly Twitter) to state that they will no longer be silent, claiming that the singer's estate was "taken away" from them and they are placing the blame on Harris. 

Nina Simone's granddaughter alleges singer's estate was taken away and given to 'White people'

It began with ReAnna Simone Kelly praising Chloe Bailey's seductive performance of her grandmother Nina Simone's hit 'Feeling Good' in 2021. 

In a now-deleted X post, ReAnna wrote, "Everyone’s coming at @ChloeBailey for her performance… But what y’all don’t understand is that grandma was a free-spirited woman herself. She would’ve loved that performance as much as I do! Relax. Chloe killed it."

While perusing comments on Simone's legacy, ReAnna stumbled upon a tweet that challenged the rationale behind her estate creating an X (formerly Twitter) account for the singer long after her death in 2003, prompting her to voice her grievances, as per Daily Beast.

ReAnna remarked, "We as her family don’t run her estate anymore. It was taken away from us & given to white people. Our family name was DRAGGED in the media. We get NO royalties, nothing. Wanna hold someone accountable? Ask Kamala Harris why she came for my family."

Nina Simone's daughter was stripped of her title of estate administrator 

Nina Simone's daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly, who was made the administrator of the singer's estate as well as a charitable trust after her death in 2003, faced accusations of "breaching her fiduciary duty" to both the estate and the trust in 2013.

She allegedly drained up to $2 million from its funds, including a $1.5 million deposit into her personal business, according to court records acquired by The Daily Beast. 

Harris, who served as California’s Attorney General at the time, reportedly wanted to surcharge Lisa nearly $6 million, with more than $2.5 million in interest.

Eventually, they reached an agreement, and Lisa was stripped of her title of estate administrator. She also agreed to relinquish her rights to her mother's works. 

Lisa was also prohibited from mentioning or implying that she was affiliated with Nina.

Lisa and her children were always unsettled by this agreement, with ReAnna unleashing a barrage of tweets against Harris at the time, accusing her of dividing her family, stripping them of their rights, and reducing the estate to ruins.

She demanded, "Ask her why she bullied my mother in court and my mom almost killed herself from the depression. Ask her why my mother had a gag order put on her and can not speak on these things. Ask her why she didn’t even want my mom to be able to say she was Nina Simone’s daughter. Ask her why she wanted us to walk away with NOTHING."

Nina Simone's daughter urged those who believed in media to step forward with the truth

ReAnna Simone Kelly further claimed that on the eve of President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' inauguration, the vice president further turned the screws when John Legend performed 'Feeling Good'.

"My grandmother created something beautiful with her life while she was here on this earth, even through all her pain," said ReAnna, adding, "I am SO PROUD of her legacy!! I am so proud to be her grandchild. But I feel separated from my legacy. As if it isn’t even mine."

Subsequently, Lisa took to Instagram to stand by ReAnna. She remarked, "I support everything she said. She’s speaking her truth; she’s speaking the truth of our family."

In the caption of her now-deleted post, Lisa wrote, "While I may not be able to speak on certain things, those close to me who witnessed the happenings firsthand are choosing to step forward with the Truth. For those who believe everything they read in the media, you have been misled."

Kamala Harris under attack after announcing presidential bid

Since VP Kamala Harris secured the endorsement of outgoing president Joe Biden and other important leaders as she becomes a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, the verbal attacks against her have grown immensely. 

Within a day, she faced attacks targeting her race and gender. Republicans have been going after the background of Harris, the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father. They even brought up her decades-old affair with Willie Brown to undermine her reputation. 

The Nina Simone story resurfacing online in this kind of political atmosphere is just one such example of the Republican tactics to intimidate Donald Trump's possible opponent.  

Back in 2021, a report by TMZ claimed that in this instance Harris may have just upheld Nina's will to carry out her wishes. 

As per the will obtained by TMZ, the singer appeared to put the bulk of her estate assets into a charitable trust to benefit the musical education of Black African children from Ghana, Liberia, and South Africa. 

Kamala Harris' hand in the current state of Nina Simone's estate came as a surprise to most

Social media was quick to take sides with the Simone family as many expressed surprise and concern at the resurfaced story doing rounds. 

That said there were other voices who shared how they never knew of the story. Online, there are limited to no reports on Harris' response to this case.  

One wrote, "Just think of all the ones out there like this that haven't been told."

Another urged that others who may know of the matter to speak up, "They all need to speak up."

One social media user, clearly influenced by what Nina's daughter said previously laid the blame on Harris as they wrote, "That was her estate from her mother . This was absolutely horrific what Kamala did . I remember this and watched it all play out . Her mother left her estate for her child . Nothing was illegal about it."

However, there were those as well who refused to believe the reports at face value. "As AG she presumably prosecuted a whole big pile of cases. If you look hard enough at any AG’s case history you can probably find something you dislike. If this is the worst they can say about KH she’s doing pretty well!" said one claiming that it was part of Harris' job. 

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.