As Joe Biden’s inauguration draws closer (it’s on January 20), more info about the proceedings is being revealed. Today, it was announced that Garth Brooks will perform as the swearing in ceremony, and he explained why in a virtual press conference.
Brooks said, “In our household, this is not a political statement: This is a statement of unity. […] The message they’re pushing is unity, and that’s right down my alley, man. If we’re gonna get anywhere, we’re gonna get there together.”
He added, “I might be the only Republican at this place, but it’s reaching across, loving one another, because that’s what is going to get us together during one of the most divided times.”
Brooks also spoke about the recent riot at the Capitol Building, saying:
“It was disturbing. It was sad. Try to remember that we the human race, so I’m always going to find sunny sides in there. […] The fact that we do make choices very much on the spur of the moment. I deal in music, I deal in raw emotion. That is what music is all about, and all that passion, guided, misguided as it is, I think that you saw the human race at a time that, for me as a person, seemed to reflect some other country’s deadline, if that makes any sense. But it’s here, and all I can do is beg and plead for everybody to take that second, that moment, take a breath and think about it. Think about your family. Think about what the mark you’re going to leave on this planet as a human being, and with the children that you raise, and then make your decision.
So I think what happened was we saw people in the heat of the moment, and we’ve seen it on television before, but I’m with you. I felt like it was in some other country, but it was here. And now we deal with it, take responsibility, we claim it, and now we do our best to make sure something like that doesn’t happen again.”
This news made Garth Brooks, along with his former alter ego Chris Gaines, a Twitter trending topic today. Brooks previously performed at Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009, and while he was asked to perform at Trump’s ceremony in 2017, he was unable to due to a scheduling conflict.