Whoopi Goldberg defended Carrie Underwood’s decision to perform at President-elect Donald Trump’s forthcoming inauguration.
On Tuesday’s episode of “The View,” the TV personality discussed the “Before He Cheats” songstress’ announcement that she will be singing a rendition of “America the Beauty” when Trump is sworn into office on Jan. 20.
“I stand behind her,” Goldberg told her co-hosts. “If I believe I have the right to make up my mind to go perform someplace, I believe they have the same right.”
Goldberg, 69, added, “So I have to support [her]. It doesn’t mean I’m particularly interested in watching. I won’t be watching. But that’s me.”
The actress’ co-host Joy Behar, however, didn’t agree with Underwood’s decision and heavily critiqued the 41-year-old musician for saying she “[loves] our country” via her statement.
“How do you love your country and support and normalize somebody who was a convicted felon who really wants to destroy the country, in my opinion,” Behar, 82, said, referring to Trump’s hush money conviction last year.
“I don’t understand how you say you love your country at the same time that you normalize this convicted felon,” she added.
Despite disagreeing with Underwood’s decision, Behar shared she believes in “free speech” and would “not be the person” to tell the country artist not to perform.
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served under the Trump administration in 2020, shared she hopes we can move “beyond the era of politics where we want to cancel people’s livelihoods because we don’t like their politics.”
Instead, she urged critics who don’t approve of Underwood to “register [their] complaint by not downloading her songs and not going to her shows.”
Griffin, 35, explained she believes the “If I Didn’t Love You” singer’s role at the inauguration would make her an “icon of MAGA and the American right.”
Several co-hosts, including Goldberg and Baher, agreed they would not be watching Trump’s inauguration.
On Monday, Underwood revealed she would play a “small part” in Monday’s “historic event” at the US capital.
“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,” she told CNN in a statement.
Trump, 78, won against democratic nominee Kamala Harris, 60, in the 2024 election in November.
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