Reactions were mixed when Carrie Underwood announced she would be performing at Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20th. Now the country singer is getting some surprise support from actress/host Whoopi Goldberg. “I stand behind her,” Goldberg said on her ABC show “The View”. “If I grant myself the right to freely decide where I appear, then I grant her the same right.”
However, Goldberg was quick to add that she wasn’t “particularly interested” in the event: “I won’t be watching it. What is more important to them is that it is also Martin Luther King Day.
Carrie Underwood could become an “icon for MAGA.”
Goldberg’s co-host, Republican Alyssa Farah Griffin, also pointed out that Underwood’s songs and concerts could be boycotted to express protest. But she wouldn’t like that. She supports the singer and doesn’t believe in “cutting out people’s livelihoods because we don’t like their politics.” Griffin later added that from a business perspective, it might not be a bad decision on Carrie Underwood’s part if she wanted to become an “icon for MAGA and the American right.” You could make a lot of money that way. Of course, no one knows whether this is what Underwood wants.
The discussion will continue for a while, as Goldberg’s closing words made clear. There are also a few other artists who perform for Trump – for example The Village People, whose hit “YMCA” the future US president loves. Carrie Underwood will then probably sing “America The Beautiful”. Jennifer Lopez recently sang this for Joe Biden in 2021, as did James Taylor for Barack Obama in 2013. However, the definitive version was delivered by Ray Charles in 1985, at Ronald Reagan’s second celebration.