It looks like we’re not the only ones unhappy with Carrie Underwood betraying her gay fans by performing at the inauguration of the country’s most empowered bigot. Ariana Grande may have thrown some subtle shade by liking a post telling the country music singer to “find the note.”
Last week, Underwood earned backlash for agreeing to perform “America The Beautiful” at the January 20 inauguration. In addition to being gross for all the obvious reasons, Underwood’s inauguration performance was also an actual mess.
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Following the president’s inaugural address—in which he declared that henceforth the United States would only recognize two genders—Underwood took the stage. And she stood there for minutes with nothing to do as apparent technical difficulties ensued.
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After almost two minutes with no backing track starting, Underwood mouthed to a nearby audio technician: “I can just sing it.” She then performed “America The Beautiful” completely a cappella.
The vindicated gays of the internet skewered Underwood for the awkward performance. But writer Evan Ross Katz won it all with the post that caught Grande’s eye.
Posting a closeup photo of Kamala Harris watching the performance with a dull expression, Katz captioned, “Kamala Harris evoking Coco Montrese (‘Girl, find the note’) watching Carrie Underwood at today’s chilling Inauguration.”
Grande hasn’t commented publicly on the inauguration performance, but a shady like on the internet can say it all. The Wicked star has reacted to the Tr*mp administration more directly in the past. Following the November election, she posted, “Holding the hand of every person who is feeling the immeasurable heaviness of this outcome today.” More recently, after Tr*mp issued an executive order declaring that the government would only recognize two genders, she shared a post from Advocates for Trans Equality which stated: “No matter what comes, we will protect each other.”
Underwood, meanwhile, has presented herself (indirectly) as a gay ally over the last decade. In 2012, she came out in support of gay marriage in an interview. While it might not seem like much, any show of allyship within an industry like country music, which is often hostile to LGBTQ+ identities, does matter. In 2018, Underwood seemed to solidify her allyship in the song “Love Wins.” While it does not refer to gay people specifically, the title references the common slogan for the marriage equality campaign, and the lyrics describe “politics and prejudice” directed toward loving couples.
Both of these gestures, however, came eerily close to the 2015 legalization of same-sex marriage and the overall shifting of public opinion on that issue. These days, it seems more likely that Underwood is and always has been following the crowd.
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