Carrie Underwood’s Fourth of July performance at a golf course failed to impress her fans, who debated her perceived “fall from grace” amid speculation about her political views.
A now-viral video shows the country hitmaker performing her song Before He Cheats at the John Deere Classic golf tournament, an annual tournament held as part of the PGA Tour.
Though the hit tells the story of a woman getting revenge on her unfaithful ex, her rendition wasn’t powerful enough to convince fans.
A viral Fourth of July performance left fans questioning whether Carrie Underwood’s star power has faded
Image credits: Jamie Schramm/Getty Images
Reacting to the video, one fan claimed that Carrie, who has sold out famous venues including the Madison Square Garden and Chicago‘s Allstate Arena, performed for just “a couple dozen people” over the weekend.
One person wrote, “How is she not embarrassed by this? The decline of Carrie’s career in the past year needs to be studied.”
“Never thought I’d see the day she would sound bad,” another critic said.
Others attributed the apparent low turnout to her political views, writing, “Carrie Underwood used to sell out large arenas, went full MAGA, and now performs for tens of people on a golf course.”
A separate viewer chimed in, “That’s what going MAGA will do to ya!”
While the American Idol judge has not publicly identified herself as a Democrat or Republican, she performed America the Beautiful at President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, leading fans to believe she is a Republican.
Critics blamed the singer’s perceived political views for the seemingly small crowd
Image credits: kid_riles/X
Several people also rushed to her defense, writing, “I don’t know why you guys are hating; this was a private event on a golf course.”
“She’s still Carrie Underwood and that’s an achievement in itself,” wrote one fan.
Though the viral video showed a small crowd, a report by the Quad-City Times stated that Carrie performed for around 12,000 people.
The 43-year-old singer appeared to brush off the criticism in a social media post about the performance.
“Such a fantastic show here in Illinois,” Carrie said in a video shared on X. “Great 4th of July crowd. I love seeing all the flags and stars and stripes in the audience. It made my heart so happy. Thank you for coming out! Happy 4th of July!”
Carrie’s life changed dramatically in 2005 when she went from being a college student in Oklahoma to winning the fourth season of American Idol.
After winning the singing competition, she released her debut single, Inside Your Heaven, which became a hit.
Image credits: carrieunderwood/X
She is also known for songs including Jesus, Take the Wheel, Cowboy Casanova, and Something in the Water.
Her first album, Some Hearts, became the best-selling debut album of all time by a solo female country artist in 2005 and earned the musician three Grammy Awards.
Time named her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2014, while Forbes declared her the most successful American Idol winner.
Carrie rose to fame after winning American Idol in 2005
Image credits: Fox/YouTube
The Muskogee-born star still maintains a busy schedule, which includes judging aspiring singers on American Idol, her businesses, and hosting her radio channel Carrie’s Country.
She also completed a three-year Las Vegas residency, Reflection, which concluded in 2025 after 72 performances.
“I have always loved touring, but having the chance to play for an extended period of time in one place has really been satisfying,” Carrie told People magazine. “I love that we get to do this show for people who have come to Las Vegas from all over the world.”
@carrieunderwood From the Idol vault! 🤘 Performing ‘Love Is A Battlefield’ during my season!! 🖤 Excited to see Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo mentor and perform on @AmericanIdol ♬ original sound – Carrie Underwood
Though the singer did not publicly endorse any candidate ahead of the 2024 election, she faced backlash for performing at the White House last year.
Responding to the criticism, she stressed that her rendition of America the Beautiful was purely patriotic and did not reflect any partisan views.
Carrie explained that she performed at Trump’s inauguration to promote “the spirit of unity”
Image credits: kid_riles/X
“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,” Carrie said at the time.
“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.”
Carrie Underwood used to sell out large arenas, went full MAGA, and now performs 😳 for tens of people on a golf course. pic.twitter.com/psgxU3XgP2
— Kid Riles (@kid_riles) July 6, 2026
In 2017, the star performed a parody version of Before He Cheats with musician Brad Paisley at the Country Music Awards that was perceived as mocking Trump’s social media habits.
“In the middle of the night from the private seat of a gold-plated White House toilet seat, he writes, ‘Liddle Bob Corker,’ ‘NFL’ and ‘covfefe,’” the country duo sang.
Brad finished the song by singing, “It’s fun to watch it, that’s for sure, until little Rocket Man starts a war. Then maybe next time he’ll think before he tweets.”
The star previously poked fun at Donald Trump during a Country Music Awards skit
Carrie previously faced criticism in 2021 for liking an anti-mask video on X.
Created by blogger Matt Walsh, the video blasted what he described as “the cruel and indefensible mask mandate for children” in Nashville.
Carrie’s latest performance divided opinions on social media
Image credits: suzietoot
On Tuesday, July 7, a Boeing 737-400SF cargo aircraft, operated by Pakistan’s K2 Airways, mysteriously disappeared over the Arabian Sea with five people on board.
The plane was en route from Sharjah, UAE, to Karachi, Pakistan, when the crew reported an emergency.
Minutes later, all communications ceased, and the aircraft disappeared from the radar.
The incident prompted a large-scale search by Pakistani authorities, amid increasing suspicions of a crash at sea off the coast of Gwadar.
Now, the alleged last known transmission from the aircraft has surfaced, shedding light on the pilot’s desperate call for help in the final minutes.
The Pakistani cargo aircraft dropped 35,000 ft before vanishing from radar
The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority shared on social media that the Boeing reported a “navigational system issue” at 9:18 p.m. local time and received immediate support from Karachi’s Area Control Center (ACC).
However, three minutes later, at 9:21 p.m., the aircraft was observed making an alarmingly rapid descent before making a sharp change in direction.
Radio contact and radar visibility ceased almost immediately. The plane’s last known location was approximately 155 nautical miles west of Karachi.
Aviation tracking website FlightRadar24’s data revealed that the Boeing had initially lost altitude, then briefly climbed before taking a massive plunge. It is believed to have plummeted roughly 35,000 ft in less than two minutes.
Just before its disappearance, the aircraft was at 1,100 ft above sea level and descending at 22,400 ft per minute.
Such a rate of vertical drop is far beyond the safe operational limits of an aircraft. For comparison, a typical emergency descent is 6,000-8,000 ft/min, and normal approaches are 500-1,500 ft/min, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
🚨 BREAKING: A Boeing 737-400 freighter has gone missing in the Indian Ocean, just past the Gulf of Oman, after taking off from the UAE
Flight tracking data shows an EXTREMELY rapid descent, dropping approximately 35,000 feet in less than 2 minutes, before disappearing from… pic.twitter.com/HSXCoVgtfm
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) July 7, 2026
Following the loss of communications, Pakistan’s Navy, Air Force, and volunteer civilian agencies began a coordinated search-and-rescue operation in the Arabian Sea, near the area where the Boeing was last spotted.
According to local media, the country’s warships, PNS Zulfiqar and PNS Hunain, as well as a Saab surveillance aircraft, have joined the search.
A statement from K2 Airways identified the five crew members on board the Boeing aircraft who are missing and are believed to have met a fatal end: Mohammad Rizwan Idrees (Pilot in Command), Faisal Mehmood (First Officer), Muhammad Toufique Khan (Load Master), Arif Siddiqui (Engineer), and Mohammad Hamid (Engineer).
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered his condolences to the families of the five, expressing “deep sorrow, grief, and regret over the tragic incident.”
Radio transmissions have revealed the pilot’s last recorded communication
The last radio transmission of the K2 Cargo plane that crashed in the sea west of Karachi….as an aviator it is absolutely heart breaking…. pic.twitter.com/4rUZNU1TnX
— Fakhr-e-Alam S.I & S.E (@falamb3) July 8, 2026
Amid the ongoing search, news outlets have uncovered unencrypted radio transmissions from the plane’s cockpit to Air Traffic Control (ATC), including those in which the alarm about the operational emergency was raised.
According to news.com.au, the final transmission recorded the pilot saying the plane was “rolling or floating.”
In aviation, rolling is the rotational movement of an aircraft around its longitudinal (nose-to-tail) axis, causing one wing to tilt up and the other down.
“Floating” describes the aerodynamic phenomenon where an aircraft continues to glide just inches above the runway before touchdown.
NewsX shared a portion of the cockpit-to-ATC transmission during their news broadcast, in which the pilot said, “We have a navigation problem, requesting radar assistance.”
The outlet believed this was the aircraft’s initial call for help.
Vandana Singh, an aviation expert, said that the radio transmission should help determine the plane’s crash location.
However, whether the system error was responsible for the accident or whether another factor was at play would be determined after its recovery.
“The official cause will only be confirmed after the entire FDR (Flight Data Recorder), CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder), wreckage, and everything is investigated by the authorities,” she said.
The seemingly fatal crash could’ve been avoided with better maintenance, said an expert
Former commercial pilot Captain Byron Bailey weighed in on the incident, theorizing about what could have gone wrong on the airplane.
He told SkyNews.com.au that rather than an engine failure, the rapid descent pointed to a phenomenon that should not have caused a crash.
“They possibly had a depressurization,” Bailey said. “Maybe the pilots didn’t react, get their masks on in time, and got hypoxic (oxygen deprivation).”
“I’ve had depressurization occur, and it’s no big deal. You just put your mask on and then start commencing a descent with the speed brakes out to get down to 10,000 ft.”
“But it’s a controlled sort of situation. This sounds like they were out of control,” added Bailey, who has flown the same route as an active pilot.
“These old airplanes could have been just a failure of the outflow valves and all that sort of stuff,” he continued, saying that the aircraft could have been “carrying a bucket full of faults.”
“Poor maintenance on these cargo airlines. They’re notorious for using old airplanes at the end of their life, you know, they are not fit for passenger travel… Maybe they became incapacitated because you just don’t know if they had serviceable oxygen for their masks or anything.”
The missing aircraft is at least 27 years old, having been manufactured and delivered by Boeing in 1999 as a passenger plane for Russia’s flagship carrier, Aeroflot. In 2012, it was repurposed as a freighter and began operating as K2 Airways’ sole charter aircraft in 2024.
The plane’s previous recorded flight took place on June 28.
“Conduct a thorough investigation.” Netizens were suspicious of the circumstances of the plane’s disappearance
