Billy Ray Cyrus Apologizes For Disastrous Performance At Trump’s Inaugural Ball

by Baila Eve ZismanJanuary 22, 2025, 1:58 pmNews >

Singer Billy Ray Cyrus has shared his take on his “disastrous” performance at President Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

Cyrus’ performance at the event was marred by technical difficulties, awkward onstage behavior and a hoarse voice.

On Tuesday, Cyrus expressed his feelings in an Instagram caption, accompanied by a photo of himself performing. He wrote, “I wouldn’t have missed the honor of playing this event whether my microphone, guitar, and monitors worked or not. I was there because President Donald J. Trump invited me.”

He continued, “I had a ball at the Liberty Ball last night, I’ve learned through all these years when the producer says ‘you’re on’, you go entertain the folks even if the equipment goes to hell. I was there for the people, and we had a blast. That’s called rock n roll!”

Despite Cyrus’ optimistic perspective on the performance, many viewers took to the internet to share their displeasure with the singer and his “cringeworthy” and “embarrassing” display.

Cyrus began his performance by strumming the guitar over the music video to Little Nas X’s “Old Town Road” (featuring Cyrus). When the music video ended, he continued strumming the song for a while. He then proceeded to engage the crowd in an acapella version of the song, telling them, “They told me to kill as much time as possible.”

Later online, many attendees expressed their annoyance with this statement and accused Cyrus of being “lazy” when people expected to see him perform.

Country singer Carrie Underwood, asked to perform “America The Beautiful” at the Inauguration, also experienced technical difficulties during her performance when the intro notes of the song abruptly stopped. In the moment, Underwood paused, then seemingly mouthed to one of the workers, “I’ll just sing it.” Addressing the crowd, Underwood said, “If you know the words, help me out here!”

Last fall, Cyrus dealt with allegations from his ex-wife, singer Firerose, that he tried to control her life while they were married.