Kelly Stafford Defends Carrie Underwood Performing at Trump’s Inauguration

On Thursday’s episode of her and Hank Winchester’s The Morning After podcast, Stafford — who is the wife of Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford — came to Underwood’s defense after she received criticism for accepting the opportunity to perform “America the Beautiful” at Trump’s second inauguration, which took place on Monday.

Before she began, the American Idol alum experienced some technical difficulties and ultimately sang the song acapella.

While discussing the inauguration on The Morning After, Stafford’s cohost called out the backlash Underwood received, saying that people should “put [their] politics aside” and “honor and respect the office” — before adding that he believes a person should accept an invitation to the White House regardless of who is president.

Stafford agreed with Winchester’s comments, saying, “I love that I didn’t know her stance on politics. I feel like that’s kind of amazing.”

“I’m with you,” she continued. “We have to just respect the power at hand. When they’re in there, you can’t change it. You just gotta pray that they make the right decisions for this country.”

“You gotta support any way you can, even if you don’t like them. You just gotta do it until the next term, and then we’ll bitch again,” Stafford added, “People are in place. It is what it is.”

The mom of four went on to admit that she doesn’t “care enough” about politics to get into it with other people she may not agree with.

“I have a sister who is — I love her more than life,” Stafford said. “I would do anything for her, she is one of my favorite people. She’s my favorite girl I know. She’s very passionate about the President that is the President right now. She’ll send me things and I don’t really click on them because that changes my algorithm.”

A week before Trump’s inauguration, it was announced Underwood would perform “America the Beautiful” while being joined by the Armed Forces Choir and the United States Naval Academy Glee Club.

“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. “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. (The former president famously did not attend President Joe Biden’s 2020 inauguration after refusing to accept the results of that election.)

Many fans jumped into the comments section of one of Underwood’s latest Instagram posts, which was completely unrelated to the inauguration, to express their discontent, including dozens saying they would be unfollowing the superstar, suggesting that this move by her could impact her career. (Check out social media reacted, here.)

While Stafford said on her podcast that she “love[s]” that she was unaware of Underwood’s political affiliation, the country singer has notably waded into politics and taken the more conservative side in the past, including her apparent anti-mask and anti-vaccination stances during the Covid-19 pandemic.