During the second weekend of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, Kacey Musgraves was doing a performance when she was joined by a very special surprise visitor onstage: Beto O’Rourke!
Nearly a week after taking a jab at Texas Senator Ted Cruz during her set at the festival’s first weekend, the Grammy-winning country singer-songwriter, 34, welcomed the current gubernatorial candidate for the state of Texas, O’Rourke, 50, to the stage. O’Rourke is running against incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott.
According to a video that was shared on Twitter by Austin, Texas news presenter Ricky Leo, Kacey Musgraves, who is originally from Texas, said during the performance, “Honestly, I could use a drink.” “Do you happen to have any beer or anything else with you?”
O’Rourke then stepped onstage and offered Musgraves a drink, which she graciously took from his hand and drank as the audience wildly applauded the senator and then began chanting “Beto!”
O’Rourke’s campaign account on Twitter uploaded a video clip of the exchange with a message that stated, “@KaceyMusgraves for Beto!” The comment was in response to the video footage.
Musgraves slung shade at Cruz, who is 51 years old, as she was performing “High Horse” at ACL last week. She included the senator’s name into her song lyrics in a video that was uploaded to Twitter and included the following lines: “since everyone knows someone who kills the buzz / every time they open their lips… Ted Cruz.”
Musgraves said, “I said what I said,” as the crowd burst into applause and applause.
Ted Cruz and Kacey Musgraves are two examples. Rick Kern/WireImage; Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/Getty
It was not the first time that the “Follow Your Arrow” singer had voiced her dislike of the politician who represented the state from where she originally from.
During the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, which left millions of Texans without access to electricity, water, or heat, Kacey Musgraves devised a method to raise money for those affected by the storm, while also making fun of Ted Cruz, who had taken his family on vacation to Cancun, Mexico during the height of the catastrophic climate crisis.
He suddenly changed his mind and traveled back to the United States, at first stating that he had just planned for the brief vacation, and then confessing that he had meant to stay over the weekend.
Cruz said, “Whether the choice to attend was tone-deaf — look, it was definitely a mistake,” after he got home to discover protestors outside of his house, which was recorded on tape by the Recount. Cruz’s comments may be seen in the video. “Had I known then what I know now, I would not have done it.”
In jest, Musgraves tweeted after, “*makes ‘CRUZIN FOR A BRUZIN’ shirts *donates earnings to Texans in need,” to which she received a response about an hour later that said, “Link coming soon. Don’t go anyplace by yourself…”
A couple of hours later, the country singer who won a Grammy tweeted a link to her online store where the shirts were for sale with the following message: “Texas is chilly, I can be cold.” This was a play on the words from her smash hit song “Slow Burn.”
According to Musgraves, one hundred percent of the money from sales went to benefit homeless Texans and immigrants looking for refuge and sustenance.