Alicia Keys used the July 4 holiday to raise concerns about women’s constitutional rights, prompting sharp criticism from conservative and MAGA-aligned commentators.
The singer marked the nation’s 250th birthday with an Instagram video highlighting that women still “don’t have an explicit guarantee to equal rights under the U.S. Constitution.”
“Can you believe that? I couldn’t even believe that was real. I mean, women are not asking for special rights, just equal rights,” Keys said in the video. She later added, “If it’s the 250th celebration of the country, isn’t it time to update some things?”
Keys encouraged her followers to learn more about the People’s Bill of Rights 250, a grassroots civic effort that asks Americans to imagine new constitutional protections and updates as the country approaches a major milestone.
Her message quickly drew backlash from the right, The Daily Beast reported.
Former ESPN anchor Sage Steele responded on X by challenging Keys’ claim.
“Hey @aliciakeys … please name one right men have that women don’t… I’ll wait…” Steele wrote.
MAGA conservative Mike Engleman also mocked the post on X, writing: “LOL, Alicia Keys spends July 4th claiming that women in America don’t have equal rights.”
Conservative commentator Libby Emmons made a similar argument, saying on X that she bet Keys “could not name a single right we women don’t have.”
MAGA pastor Jordan Wells accused Keys of using the issue to create conflict.
“Sorry Alicia, but women in America already have equal rights — and then some,” Wells wrote. “We’re celebrating 250 years of freedom, not rewriting history to fit the victimhood script.”
In her video, Keys specifically referred to the Equal Rights Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment intended to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. Although Congress passed the ERA in 1972, it included a seven-year deadline for ratification by the states. Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the amendment in January 2020, but it did so decades after the deadline had expired.
In January 2025, President Joe Biden declared the ERA “the law of the land,” though he did not direct Archivist Colleen Shogan to certify and publish it. Shogan has said the amendment cannot be certified because the ratification deadline had passed.
Keys has long been associated with women’s rights and social justice causes. She was among the featured speakers and performers at the 2017 Women’s March on Washington, where she recited Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” before performing “Girl on Fire.”