Kacey Musgraves Rebukes Ted Cruz Onstage at ACL Fest

It’s safe to say that Kacey Musgraves won’t be playing any campaign events for Ted Cruz in this or any other lifetime. The country singer-songwriter, a native of Golden, Texas, offered a sharp rebuke of the Texas senator during her performance at Austin City Limits Music Festival on Sunday night.

Musgraves was performing the song “High Horse,” a playfully witty takedown of a jerk who always spoils the party in various ways, off her Grammy-winning Album of the Year Golden Hour.

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In video from ACL Fest attendee (and occasional RS scribe) Cat Cardenas, Musgraves makes a change to the first verse: “’Cause everyone knows someone who kills the buzz every time they open up their mouth,” she sings, then adds a punctuated “Ted Cruz!” The crowd roars in approval and Musgraves adds, “I said what I said.” Fellow ACL performers the Chicks also poked fun at Cruz during their set, and then endorsed Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke during a show later that weekend.

Musgraves previously had some fun at Cruz’s expense in early 2021, after the senator decided to travel to Cancun while Texas was grappling with an ice-and-snow-related energy crisis. Playing off his name, Musgraves produced shirts that read “Cruzin’ for a Bruzin” and sold them in her merchandise store. She donated the proceeds to organizations providing aid during the crisis.

Currently, Musgraves has only one date on the calendar for fall: her second appearance at ACL Fest on Oct. 16.

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