AceShowbiz -

Transgender singer Anohni, who is nominated for an Oscar, is cut from this year's performers list due to "time constraints". She wrote a lengthy essay on Pitchfork to express her disappointment and explain the obvious reasons why she's boycotting the February 28 event.

Anohni, who went by the name Antony Hegarty, recorded "Manta Ray" for the documentary "Racing Extinction" with collaborator J. Ralph. The 44-year-old singer became the first trans to be nominated in the awards' 88-year history. "I am the only transgendered performer ever to have been nominated for an Academy Award, and for that I thank the artists who nominated me," she began the letter published on Thursday, February 25.

Anohni believed her unpopularity, not her gender, brought to the organizers' decision to exclude her from the live broadcast. "I want to be clear - I know that I wasn't excluded from the performance directly because I am transgendered. I was not invited to perform because I am relatively unknown in the U.S.," she wrote.

She rushed home to prepare for a performance in case she got asked to appear on the stage, but "a week later, Sam Smith, Lady GaGa and The Weeknd were rolled out as the evening's entertainment with more performers 'soon to be announced.' Confused, I sat and waited. Would someone be in touch? But as time bore on I heard nothing."

Anohni was in shock when "Dave Grohl, not nominated in any category, had been added to the list of performers." She was told that just a walk on the red carpet would be good for her career, so she went to the airport to attend the ceremony. However, "the feelings of embarrassment and anger knocked me back, and I couldn't get on the plane. ... I turned around at the airport and went back home."

In her last paragraph, she wrote, "So I have decided not to attend the Academy Awards this election year. I will not be lulled into submission with a few more well manufactured, feel-good ballads and a bit of good old fashioned T. and A."