Billy Ray Cyrus is scheduled to perform at Donald Trump’s inauguration next week — and apparently hasn’t been deterred by the president-elect’s snarky comments about his daughter.
The country singer-songwriter will join Carrie Underwood and the Village People on the roster of musical acts at Trump’s Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony. Gavin DeGraw, Lee Greenwood, Rascal Flatts and Kid Rock are also set to perform.
Though Cyrus has been outspoken about his conservative views, his decision to play at the inauguration caught some by surprise, given the remarks Trump made about Miley Cyrus at a Bitcoin conference last July.
“Billy Ray Cyrus is here. Where is Billy Ray?” Trump said at the time, as seen in video of the conference. “He’s around here someplace, and he’s great. He’s a conservative guy.”
Trump then took aim at the pop star, who sits on the opposite end of the political spectrum from her father. “I said, ‘How did you get such a liberal daughter?’ How did that happen, Billy Ray?’”
On social media, Miley Cyrus’ fans offered less-than-enthusiastic responses to news of her father’s scheduled performance.
“Someone please adopt Miley Cyrus she deserves better,” one person wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Added another: “I see he’s trying to mooch off of Miley’s last name.”
Miley Cyrus made her feelings on Trump clear in a 2019 interview with Vanity Fair, describing him as a “completely racist, sexist, hateful asshole.” As of Thursday, she has not commented publicly on her father’s inauguration performance.
Speculation that Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus have developed a rift began heating up last year, when the former “Hannah Montana” star notably did not mention her dad during her acceptance speech at the 2024 Grammy Awards.
Those rumors intensified in July when Billy Ray Cyrus appeared to refer to his eldest daughter as “that devil” and “a skank” in a recording leaked online by his ex-wife, Firerose.