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Diamond of the pro-Trump entertainers Diamond and Silk has died, the former president as well as the duo's verified Twitter account announced Monday night. She was 51.
Both women, sisters whose names are Lynette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, were born in 1971, with Diamond making her debut on Thanksgiving Day, according to their 2020 book, "Uprising."
Calling her death "really bad news for Republicans," former President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform, "Our beautiful Diamond of Diamond and Silk has just passed away at her home in the state she loved so much, North Carolina."
In late November, the Diamond and Silk Twitter account made a plea for prayers for Diamond. It was not clear exactly why. "Anyone who believes in the power of prayer please pray for Diamond," it said.
The autobiographical "Uprising" says the sisters grew up "poor," but not without class, taste and an anchor in a parcel of the fertile land of the Deep South, where their father's dad and grandfather were landowning farmers.
The two women made a splash during Trump's 2016 campaign for president, supporting him with commentary on their YouTube channel. The duo has said they switched parties after being lifelong Democrats just to support Trump following his 2015 presidential campaign announcement.
Trump embraced the two, emphasizing their status as Black American women supporting a white Republican whose record on inclusion has been criticized as antiquated if not prejudiced. They attended Trump's inauguration in 2017.
Diamond and Silk, has died, according to the pair's Twitter account. She was 51.
Hardaway, known by the moniker “Diamond,” carved out a unique role as a Black woman who loudly backed Trump and right-wing policies, earning fame first on the Internet and then as a cable television commentator. Her promotion of COVID-19 falsities eventually got her dropped from Fox News, but she landed on another right-wing cable platform.
Hardaway's cause of death has not been released. Trump, who called her death “really bad news for Republicans” in a Monday night post on his Truth Social platform, said it was “totally unexpected.”
“Our beautiful Diamond of Diamond and Silk has just passed away at her home in the State she loved so much, North Carolina," Trump wrote. “There was no better TEAM anywhere, at any time!”
Lynette 'Diamond' Hardaway, better known as half of the MAGA duo "Diamond and Silk," has died at 51.
Her death was announced Monday night by the entertainers' verified social media accounts and by former president Donald Trump, prompting an outpouring of condolences from prominent conservative figures.
The pair's social media post mourned Hardaway as "a True Angel and Warrior Patriot for Freedom, Love and Humanity," and linked to an online fundraising page for a memorial ceremony that it said would be announced soon. It does not specify a cause of death.
"Diamond blazed a trail, founded on her passion and love for the entire race of humanity," it reads. "In this time of grief, please respect the privacy of Diamond's family but remember and celebrate the gift that she gave us all!"
Hardaway and her sister Rochelle 'Silk' Richardson rose to fame during the 2016 presidential election, when the self-described lifelong Democrats switched their party affiliation to vote for Trump and used their online platform to urge others to do the same
