Billy Ray Cyrus has defended his widely-panned performance at Donald Trump’s Liberty Ball, saying: “You just had to be there.”
On Monday (January 20) evening, the 63-year-old country star took the stage in Washington DC after Trump’s inauguration to perform his hit tune “Achy Breaky Heart” and his Lil Nas X collaboration “Old Town Road.”
The gig was beset by technical difficulties. At one point during his performance, Cyrus was unable to hear his guitar. “Is my guitar still on?” he asked the stage crew. “I think they cut me off. I don’t hear my guitar anymore.”
Continuing to hold the guitar in the air, he asked the workers backstage: “Is anyone awake?
“I don’t hear it? Do ya’ll hear it?” he questioned. “Is anyone back there? Can somebody turn my guitar back on? We’re going to sing a bit more.”
A crew member finally came out and fixed the singer’s guitar, before he continued his performance.
“When you have technical difficulties you got to just keep going,” he added. “Or as President Trump would say, you got to fight!”
Many on social media were critical of Cyrus. “Billy Ray Cyrus’ performance at Donald Trump’s inaugural Liberty Ball is an epic disaster,” one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“That Billy Ray Cyrus ‘performance’ at Liberty ball was absolutely pathetic. Worst s*** I’ve seen in a while,” another added.However, on his own Instagram page Cyrus posted footage of himself singing “Achy Breaky Heart” along with the caption: “This was the most fun part of the Liberty Ball! And if you didn’t see it… you just had to be there.”
He added a reference to a lyric from the song: “I just don’t think you understand.”
Cyrus had earlier issued a statement reflecting on his performance.
“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,” Cyrus told People.
“I had a ball at the Liberty Ball last night and 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!!!”
Cyrus’s performance wasn’t the only one plagued by technical difficulties that day.
Earlier that afternoon, at President Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony, Carrie Underwood was forced to sing “America the Beautiful” a capella when the sound system failed to work.
