Country singer Carrie Underwood was forced to pivot to an a cappella performance during Monday’s inauguration of President Donald Trump due to audio problems.
The former American Idol winner took the stage following Trump’s inaugural address to perform a rendition of “America The Beautiful” with the Armed Forces Chorus. Standing on stage in silence for over a minute, it became clear there were audio problems in the room. A beat of music began before quickly cutting out.
Underwood told the crowd “if you know the words help me out here” before opting to sing the song a cappella. The crowd, including outgoing President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, joined her, singing along to the patriotic song. Following her performance, Underwood greeted both Biden and Trump, who both appeared to share encouraging messages.
It was announced last week that Underwood would perform at the inauguration, sparking shock, and some cases outrage, from a portion of her fans on social media. Disappointed comments flooded posts from aggregator accounts like Pop Base, with a few posts of support sprinkled in.
The shock from fans seems understandable given the “Before He Cheats” singer has a history of not being political and previous digs against Trump. In 2017, Underwood mocked Trump onstage during a performance at the CMA Awards as part of a parody song with Brad Paisley.
Underwood is not the only performer facing heat for taking part in inaugural events. Rapper-turned-mogul Snoop Dogg faced heavy criticism from fans for performing at the Crypto Ball, an event in Washington D.C. preceding Trump’s inauguration. Snoop had a long history of speaking out against Trump and previously released a video for his “Nightfall Remix” of BADBADNOTGOOD’s “Lavendar,” in which he shoots a toy gun at a Trump impersonator.
Trump was sworn in Monday at noon local time during an inauguration ceremony that was moved inside the Capitol Rotunda, due to extreme weather in D.C.
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