Billy Ray Cyrus blamed his disastrous performance at President Trump’s inauguration celebration on technical difficulties.
The country music singer performed to a sea of MAGA hat-wearing Republicans at the Liberty Ball on Monday night, just hours after Trump took the oath of office as the 47th president of the United States.
Fans couldn’t help but notice that Cyrus, 63, had some audio issues when he awkwardly started to recite the lyrics to his songs “Old Town Road” and “Achy Breaky Heart” without any music or backup vocals.
The Grammy winner claimed the odd performance was indeed the result of faulty equipment, saying in a statement to People Tuesday, “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 said he had a “ball” at the gig despite the technical difficulties.
“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,” he added. “I was there for the people, and we had a blast. That’s called rock ‘n’ roll!”
The ’90s star went viral for appearing to have a slight breakdown in front of the audience when he was unable to perform his set as planned.
“Check? Is anybody awake?” he asked into the mic as he looked around for help. “Y’all want me to sing more or you want me to just get the hell off the stage?”
Nonetheless, Cyrus remained positive and told guests, “In life, when you have technical difficulties, you just gotta keep going, or as President Trump would say, ‘You gotta fight.’”
The father of Miley Cyrus wasn’t the only star to experience technical difficulties during the lineup of inauguration events.
Carrie Underwood was forced to perform “America the Beautiful” a cappella while closing out Trump’s swearing-in ceremony at the United States Capitol rotunda in Washington, DC, earlier Monday.
The “Before He Cheats” singer, 41, stood quietly onstage for a few minutes before telling the intimate audience to “help her out here” and singing the patriotic tune without any backup.
Underwood originally had been scheduled to perform in between Vice President JD Vance’s and Trump’s oaths; however, her song was moved to the end of the program for reasons unknown.
She was also supposed to be accompanied by the Armed Forces Chorus and the United States Naval Academy Glee Club.
Other artists who performed at inaugural events included Jason Aldean, Kid Rock, the Village People, Rascal Flatts and Gavin DeGraw.
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