CARRIE Underwood has been praised by fans after claims her inauguration performance was ‘sabotaged’ with an ’embarrassing’ live blunder.
The country superstar was tapped to sing America The Beautiful for Donald Trump however, the moment on the world’s biggest stage started out awkward when the music wouldn’t play.
The Oklahoma native rocked a simple grey sleeveless dress and matching stilettos as she walked toward the stage to perform at the political event.
She quickly began to grimace as it was made apparent there was an issue with the music.
The Before He Cheats singer tightly gripped the microphone as she waited on the background melody to begin for an awkward several seconds.
Carrie, 41, began to look around the indoor inauguration room as others present peered around as well – appearing not to know what to do.
At one point, a burst of music played for a split second but quickly stopped.
Despite the several moments of awkward silence, Carrie continued on to sing completely acapella as her voice echoed through the room.
“You know the words, help me out here,” she asked the room inside the U.S. Capitol, before belting out the classic song.
Fans were impressed the American Idol judge was able to pull off the move so impressively.
“Carrie Underwood owned the moment after the glitch in the music for America the Beautiful by singing a cappella. It took an embarrassing moment and made it magnificent as Republicans and Democrats helped sing with her,” one person said.
“Carrie Underwood said we’ll do it LIVE and NAILED it like a DIVA! Absolutely iconic moment,” another wrote.
“Heroic moment by Carrie Underwood in the face of adversity. This is America,” a third praised.
“What a trooper Carrie was. She said to heck with the music. I’m here to sing and that she did,” another clapped along.
Carrie Underwood’s future on American Idol revealed as ‘blindsided’ producers are ‘angry’ over inauguration performance
Some also claimed Carrie’s performance was intentionally sabotaged and praised the singer for pushing through so professionally.
“Carrie Underwood just killed it. They tried to sabotage her and she turned it around on them,” a viewer said.
“Despite this little bit of sabotage, Carrie Underwood saves the day. America is great,” one more said.
After completing the performance, Carrie clapped, bowed and turned around to shake the hands of both President Trump and President Joe Biden.
‘HUMBLED TO ANSWER THE CALL’
Earlier this month, Carrie confirmed she would be singing at the prestigious event – thought it was meant with controversy.
“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,” she said in a statement.
“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.”
The move seemingly caused issues with her newest TV gig as The U.S. Sun previously reported, Carrie was privately criticized by American Idol execs after the announcement was made.
‘PRODUCERS ARE WORRIED’
“There are producers who don’t approve and are worried,” a source said.
“A lot of viewers are already speaking of a boycott, whether or not that’s true or just noise will be seen after the ratings come in but the conversation it now brings Idol into is not what producers want.
“They don’t want the show to get political, they want it to be an escape from that.”
Carrie’s fellow American Idol judges Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie as well as host Ryan Seacrest were also unimpressed with the news.
“Ryan, Luke and Lionel won’t be happy either because they will inevitably also get asked about it in some interview at some point and that’s not a topic they want to be sucked into,” the source explained.
Who are the past American Idol winners?
The previous American Idol winners include:
Kelly Clarkson (2002)
Ruben Studdard (2003)
Fantasia Barrino (2004)
Carrie Underwood (2005)
Taylor Hicks (2006)
Jordin Sparks (2007)
David Cook (2008)
Kris Allen (2009)
Lee DeWyze (2010)
Scotty McCreery (2011)
Phillip Phillips (2012)
Candice Glover (2013)
Caleb Johnson (2014)
Nick Fradiani (2015)
Trent Harmon (2016)
Maddie Poppe (2018)
Laine Hardy (2019)
Just Sam (2020)
Chayce Beckham (2021)
Noah Thompson (2022)
Iam Tongi (2023)
However, the source assured that Carrie would not be fired from the ABC music competition show for participating in the inauguration.
“It doesn’t conflict with any of her Idol taping dates and [the inauguration] is before this season airs, so it doesn’t go against anything in her contract.”
Carrie has never spoken out about her political views, claiming in 2019 she “stays far out of” the topic.
“I feel like more people try to pin me places politically,” she told The Guardian.
“I try to stay far out of politics if possible, at least in public, because nobody wins. It’s crazy.”
Carrie makes her judging debut on American Idol on Sunday, March 9 on ABC.
