Talk about a poker face... or not. At the Country Music Association Awards held on November
10th, country music star Carrie Underwood may have let her emotions get the best of
her.
Hosting the award show for the night, Luke Bryan opened with a short monologue in which
he discussed — and joked about — how this year's CMAs looks much different than the
last. This year, per the Tennessean, the CMA Awards returned to Nashville's Bridgestone
Arena after having a smaller, audience-free ceremony in 2020. Taking the stage at the
beginning of the show, Bryan made sure to get plenty of jokes in. He said,
"Tonight is all about the music and the dreamers. However, I know it's definitely not all about
the nominations, 'cause I really don't have any. It's fine, I'm not bitter. Nope, I'm
not."
However, one of the next jokes in his monologue didn't seem to go over too well with at least
one person in the audience — former "American Idol" winner Underwood.
Luke Bryan wanted to be sure that everyone in the arena knew that safety was a top priority
at the CMAs. He said,
"Rest assured, we're following all the health protocols to keep everyone safe. And it is
so great to be here with all my fellow artists, tested and together. Or immunized?"
Bryan looked around the crowd, pointing his finger.
"Who is it?" he asked, before adding, "just playing." The cameras quickly panned to Carrie
Underwood, who gave a sharp side-eye.
It seems as though Underwood may have reacted that way because the joke was a dig at Green
Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who lied about getting vaccinated. On November
6th, Underwood's husband, Mike Fisher, took to Instagram to show his support for Rodgers.
In early November, Rodgers revealed he was not vaccinated for COVID-19 after contracting
the virus, but stated he was "immunized" back in August. By the look of Underwood's side-eye,
she certainly wasn't happy Bryan made an indirect joke at her husband during the awards — and
neither were her fans.
One user wrote on Twitter,
"Did they really cut to Carrie Underwood when Luke brought up Covid vaccines? Lol."
To which another user added,
"Dang Carrie Underwood did not like that immunized joke."
Although Carrie Underwood has not spoken out about her stance on the COVID-19 vaccine,
it appears as though she supports her husband's take on it — at least, on some level. According
to E! News, Underwood "liked" Mike Fisher's post about Aaron Rodgers — and against vaccine
mandates. The former Nashville Predators player captioned an Instagram post,
"I stand with [Aaron Rodgers]. I believe in the freedom to choose what we put in our bodies
and the freedom of conscience. I agree with him in that the science clearly shows the
vaccinated spread covid at basically the same rate as the unvaccinated."
He went on to say that major league sports leagues should offer "daily testing for all"
in lieu of vaccine mandates. Fisher explained that he feels as though the government doesn't
care about the health and well-being of U.S. citizens, but that,
"It's about control over our lives."
Fisher's Instagram caption continued,
"I won't stand for that. It's time to fight for our medical freedom and I feel for those
that have been fired for choosing medical freedom. People losing their jobs over a medical
choice is un-American and unacceptable."
Given the current political climate, it's not surprising that Fisher's post found itself
in the headlines.
Carrie Underwood tends to keep her feelings on various political matters to herself, and
has never come forward to support a particular political candidate. In fact, back in 2008,
she took a stand against celebrities who choose to share that information with their fans.
She said according to the New York Daily News,
"There is someone I do support, but I don't support publicly. I lose all respect for celebrities
when they back a candidate."
And while Underwood doesn't typically mesh politics with her career, she has spoken out
about causes that are important to her. In 2012, for example, she expressed support for
the LGBTQ community. Underwood told the Independent, according to Us Weekly,
"As a married person myself, I don't know what it's like to be told I can't marry somebody
I love and want to marry. I can't imagine how that must feel. I definitely think we
should all have the right to love, and love publicly, the people that we want to love."
The outlet reported that Underwood was a registered Republican at the time.
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