Carrie Underwood Embraces Trump With Inauguration Performance
The country star will sing “America the Beautiful.”
admin
Carrie Underwood is heading to Donald Trump’s inauguration — and she’s leaving behind the Louisville Slugger. The country star is set to perform “America the Beautiful” at the January 20 ceremony, Trump’s team told Axios, making her one of the biggest celebrities to align herself with the Republican president-elect. Her appearance already draws a stark contrast to Trump’s 2017 inauguration, which was headlined by vocal Republicans like Toby Keith after A-list performers such as Elton John and Garth Brooks turned down the gig. Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration, on the other hand, featured Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez, along with Brooks.
The performance is also the first time Underwood has clarified her support for Trump. In 2019, she bemoaned when people “try to pin me places politically,” telling The Guardian, “I try to stay far out of politics if possible, at least in public, because nobody wins.” But there have been clues in recent years. She leaned into COVID skepticism in 2021, quietly standing with her husband, ex-NHL player Mike Fisher, who supported Aaron Rodgers’s decision not to get the COVID vaccine; she also liked a video against mask mandates from conservative influencer Matt Walsh. While continuing her country career, Underwood released a gospel album as well, My Gift, in 2021. Her inauguration performance comes just ahead of her return to American Idol, which she’s set to join as a judge later this year.
Related
