Exclusive | God Bless the USA singer Lee Greenwood defends inauguration performer Carrie Underwood from haters: Stop this negative crap
“God Bless the U.S.A.” singer Lee Greenwood said his friend and fellow inauguration performer Carrie Underwood will “do a great job” on Monday despite the hate she’s been receiving.“I pity those people that think they have to reach out to a star like her and run some negativity past her when all you have to do is say, ‘Thank you for performing for our next president,'” he told The Post.The “American Idol” alum was slammed with comments on her Instagram page, criticizing her for performing for Donald Trump, calling her “disgraceful,” “a sellout” and “insurrectionist Barbie.”Greenwood, 82, who has performed with Underwood at the Country Music Awards, said haters need to “move on.” “I mean, he is the next president.Come on.
Stop this negative crap.”The Grammy winner will proudly perform his patriotic anthem — which he wrote in 30 minutes in the back of his tour bus in 1983 — right before Trump is sworn in.“I will sing live with the United States Marine Corps band only moments before Donald Trump swears in as the president,” said Greenwood of his third inauguration appearance.He sang for Trump in 2017 and George H.
W.Bush in 1989.This one will be different.
“There’s going to be a lot more security because of the attempt on his life,” he said.Trump invited Greenwood to perform recently while he and his wife, former Miss Tennessee Kimberly Payne, were guests at Mar-a-Lago.“My wife and I were standing with him at an event backstage and I said, ‘Are you going to need me in Washington?’ And he said, ‘Absolutely.'”The California native, who lives in Franklin, TN, sang at six Republican National Conventions, but said introducing Trump after the then-presidential candidate was nearly killed at a rally in Butler, PA, was the most special.“That may have been the most historic moment for me in all of my performances with presidents,” Greenwood said.“This is the moment you have to introduce the president to ...