Ariana Grande Seemingly Shades Carrie Underwood Over Inauguration Performance

Ariana Grande has seemingly thrown a bit of shade Carrie Underwood’s way following the country singer’s performance during President Donald Trump’s second inauguration Monday. Underwood was forced to sing an a cappella rendition of “America the Beautiful” after technical issues plagued the ceremony. Although Grande has not publicly commented on Underwood’s buzzed-about performance, eagle-eyed fans noticed that the Oscar-nominated Wicked star liked a social media post that said Underwood struggled to “find the note.”

The post, shared by internet personality Evan Ross Katz to Instagram Monday, featured a photo of Underwood singing as former Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Grande endorsed in the 2024 presidential election, was seated behind her with an unamused look on her face. Katz captioned the post, “Kamala Harris evoking Coco Montrese (“Girl, find the note”) watching Carrie Underwood at today’s chilling Inauguration.”

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A post shared by Evan Ross Katz (@evanrosskatz)

Katz’s post garnered more than 26,000 likes, among them Grande and Mandy Moore, per reports. The move garnered plenty of responses from fans, including from one person who declared, “Ariana is my hero for liking this.” Somebody else commented, “She’s always on the right side of history,” as a third person wrote, “She’s not afraid to throw some shade when it feels deserved.”

However, others defended Underwood’s performance, one person commenting, “She did find the note and she rocked the hell out of it.” Another person said the “Jesus Take the Wheel” singer “sang beautifully.”

Grande – who on Monday also reposted a statement from Advocates for Trans Equality calling Trump’s administration “extremists” after the president signed an executive order declaring the country would only recognize two genders, male and female – has not commented on Underwood’s performance or her liking of Katz’s post.

Underwood faced plenty of pushback after it was announced that she would be performing at Monday’s inauguration alongside other performers like the Village People, Nelly, and Billy Ray Cyrus. Later addressing her decision to perform, the singer said in a statement shared with PEOPLE, “I love our country and am honored to have been asked to sing at the Inauguration and to be a small part of this historic event. 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.”