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Billy Ray Cyrus was one of the artists who performed at Donald Trump's Liberty Ball on January 20, 2025. However, his performance garnered a lot of negative traction and was dubbed 'embarrassing' by many netizens. Billy Ray sang his hit tracks Old Town Road and Achy Breaky Heart at the event in Washington, D.C. but encountered a few technical issues mid-performance.
After singing Old Town Road, the singer couldn't hear his guitar and asked if his guitar was still on. He also said that he thought he was cut off and asked the backstage crew:
"Is anyone awake? I don’t hear it? Do ya’ll hear it? Is anyone back there? Can somebody turn my guitar back on? We’re going to sing a bit more.”
Moreover, Billy Ray questioned if the audience wanted him to sing more or "get the hell off stage." He added, "I don’t give a damn.” Netizens were quick to react to Billy Ray Cyrus' performance for Trump and expressed their discontent via X.
Commenting on the same, a netizen wrote:
"They literally had to escort him off the stage! What in the world?!"
"GET BILL RAY CYRUS OFF THE STAGE!!!" an X user commented
"Billy Ray Cyrus' performance at Donald Trump's inaugural Liberty Ball is an epic disaster," an X user mentioned
"Billy Ray Cyrus, clearly lip-syncing, looks like he crawled out from under a bridge before this weak performance at Donald Trump's inaugural Liberty Ball. So embarrassing," an netizen stated
"They cut his guitar bc his performance was horrible. He’s either really drunk or really high. He was lip syncing to the first song was delayed and totally obvious," another internet user said
On the other hand, some internet users defended the singer stating that the technical difficulties persisted for other artists as well:
"None of the musical equipment worked for Billy Ray Cyrus, so he improvised. Same things happened to Carrie Underwood. Somebody’s getting fired. lol," a netizen commented
"Sounds like a technical disaster! Someone’s definitely getting the blame for that one," another netizen said
"They are likely sabatoging it on purpose," an X user tweeted
Billy Ray Cyrus recalls the moment Trump got shot: Details explored
During his interview on Fox News' Hannity on January 17, 2025, Billy Ray commented on the moment Trump was shot during a rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024. The singer recalled that he watched the incident on TV and mentioned:
"When President Trump stood up and he had that blood on his face and he stood up and raised his fist and said 'fight', that was one of the photographs and moment of the most defining definition of some gave all."
Billy Ray added that the moment depicted "the true spirit" of the heart and soul that the country was built on. The singer was vocal about his support for Trump in the 2024 Presidential elections wherein he not only posted a picture with the 47th President of the U.S but also attended one of his political rallies.
According to a report by HuffPost dated July 2024, Trump called out Billy Ray Cyrus and his daughter, Miley, during a conference for Bitcoin enthusiasts in Nashville. It was because she had previously shared negative comments about Trump. Before Trump became President for the first time, Miley called him a "f*cking nightmare" via an Instagram post in March 2016.
During the same campaign at the Nashville’s Music City Center, Trump referred to the father-daughter's contradicting political views:
“Billy Ray Cyrus is here. Where is Billy Ray? He’s around here someplace, and he’s great. He’s a conservative guy. I said, How did you get such a liberal daughter? How did that happen, Billy Ray?”
When Billy Ray was facing technical difficulties on stage at the inaugural ball, a crew member came onstage and fixed the singer's guitar. After this, the singer said that one must keep going despite technical difficulties and added that as President Trump would say, "you got to fight!"
