Carrie Underwood Performing at Trump Inauguration Leaves Social Media Divided

The American Idol winner and judge will perform "America the Beautiful" at President-Elect Donald Trump's inauguration next week alongside other performers including Lee Greenwood and Christopher Macchio.

Carrie Underwood may have united the country when she won American Idol in 2004 and went on to become one of country music's biggest stars, but the announcement she'll be performing at Donald Trump's second inauguration has left America deeply divided.

According to a copy of the program for Trump's inauguration at the U.S. Capitol on Monday, January 20, as obtained by TMZ and spread across social media, Underwood will sing "America the Beautiful" as part of a lineup that also includes Lee Greenwood and Christopher Macchio.

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Underwood will be joined by the Armed Forces Choir and the United States Naval Academy Glee Club for her performance. She will sing in the time between J.D. Vance taking his oath of office and Trump taking his.

"I love our country and am honored to have been asked to sing at the Inauguration and to be a small part of this historic event," the singer said in a statement on Monday. "I am humbled to answer the call at a time when we must all come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future."

That unity was nowhere to be seen across social media after it was announced that Underwood would be taking part in the ceremonial kickoff of Trump's second term, with her name immediately catapulting toward the top of U.S. trends on X. The former president famously did not attend President Joe Biden's 2020 inauguration after refusing to accept the results of that election.

"Will you be performing 'Before he Cheats'?" asked one fan -- with many more echoing the sentiment. These fans jumped onto Underwood's latest Instagram post -- which has nothing to do with the inauguration -- to express their discontent.

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"Sad to see you're a Trumper," commented another fan on that post, while still another wrote, "Don’t ever call yourself an LGBTQ ally again, you’re supporting the man that wants to abolish LGBTQ rights, you should be ashamed."

"You can recover from that smell but orange stains are impossible to remove," quipped another fan on her post, while dozens said they would be unfollowing the superstar, suggesting that this move by her could impact her career.

"Girl now I have to sell my Vegas residency tickets, this is EMBARRASSING," wrote another.

The strong reactions seemed to crop up everywhere there was a place for fans to comment online. "Love when celebrities out themselves as being supportive or complicit with fascism so we know to stop supporting them," wrote on fan on Variety's IG share of the story, while another commented, "Kelly Clarkson is our true American Idol."

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Over on The Hollywood Reporter's IG share, one fan wrote, "Kelly Clarkson would never 😂," while another commented, "Maybe next time she'll think before she cheats."

Still, there are those who have Underwood's back, like this commenter who wrote, "People on here literally staring at their phone for 24 hours so they can jump on the hate wagon. Carrie Underwood rules. It'll be a great performance."

Still others noted that this isn't the first time Underwood has waded into politics and taken the more conservative side, with many recalling when she liked an anti-mask video on Twitter during the Covid-19 pandemic.

And then there's the 2021 incident where she stood by husband Mike Fisher's defense of Aaron Rodger's strong anti-vaccination stance, also in relation to the pandemic.

"I believe in the freedom to choose what we put in our bodies and the freedom of conscience," Fisher shared in a lengthy post that his wife liked. "I agree with him in that the science clearly shows the vaccinated spread covid at basically the same rate as the unvaccinated."

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So while Underwood's latest career move didn't shock everyone, it nevertheless left a lot of very strong opinions in its wake. Among those supporting her is Candace Cameron-Bure, who liked Variety's IG share.

Yvette Nicole Brown replied to the story, writing, "We're about to learn the politics and price of a lot of people these next four years. Never forget which side of history they've chosen to be on."

Tommy Dorfman, meanwhile, kept it simple, just writing, "girl" -- as did RuPaul's Drag Race star Michelle Visage, whoa dded, "Oh dear."

And as comments for and against the move flooded Instagram posts, reactions poured onto X, as well, with a healthy mix of people shocked and people shocked that anyone would be shocked.

Here are some of the strongest, funniest, and downright strangest reactions.

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