Country star Kacey Musgraves changed the lyrics of her hit song to take a dig at Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) during a live performance over the weekend.
The Grammy Award winner altered the refrain of her song “High Horse,” about an arrogant man who thinks he’s “way cooler than everybody else,” when she appeared at the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Sunday night.
Musgraves belted out the song’s hook, “Cause everyone knows someone who kills the buzz,
every time they open up their mouth,” and tacked on Ted Cruz to the end of the lyric.
The singer made sure to let the cheering crowd know that mentioning the Texas Senator wasn’t a slip of the tongue. “I said what I said,” she noted.
The “Space Cowboy” singer was praised by her fans on social media, after making the remarks.
“You can tell [Musgraves] is a real Texan by the volume of her hair and how much she hates Ted Cruz,” wrote an admirer.
“Kacey Musgraves is a strong independent person who has the strength & courage to defend our country against ALL comers, including Sen. Ted Cruz, the parties answer to the next facist leader,” tweeted another.
“I love when musicians use their platform to help take out the political trash. Kasey Musgraves is my latest hero,” added a fan.
Sunday night wasn’t the first time the country superstar attacked the GOP senator. She sold t-shirts in her swag shop criticizing Cruz for traveling to Cancun in February 2021, while the state was hit with a winter storm that caused a deep freeze and widespread power outages.
“Texas is cold, I can be cold,” Musgraves posted on Twitter along with a photo of a shirt that read, “Cruzin’ for a bruzin.'”
She donated profits from the $29.99 t-shirt to charities supporting the Texas residents who were affected by the uncharacteristic cold front.
According to a local news producer, the “Keep it to Yourself” singer also took aim at the Supreme Court during the same show. “F the Supreme Court honestly. We’re in a weird time but we’ve got each other… There is a light. I promise,” she reportedly remarked.
Musgraves has not been shy to express her outrage about restrictive abortion rights on her social media accounts.
When Alabama passed a law that outright banned most abortions in May of 2019, she wrote, “Sooo what’s gonna happen when one of those Alabama senators knocks up one of his mistresses?”
In 2021, she shared her disdain about Florida Senate Bill 404, which requires that minors get parental consent in order to get an abortion.
Musgraves retweeted historical author Jennifer Wright’s post that read, “If you think girls are too irresponsible to make life decisions without their parent’s permission, maybe don’t force them to become a mother.”