At Las Vegas’ iHeartRadio Music Festival, Hayley Williams shared her thoughts on Donald Trump. Later, Elon Musk criticized her for using cue cards.
A user on X shared a video of the Paramore singer reading her statement from cue cards, and wrote, “When you realize that these people are ALL paid actors for hire and the Romans treated actors as the lowest members of society on the same level as sanitation and prostitution, everything falls into place.”
“So disappointing,” Musk commented on the post. He also wrote, “She was reading from cue cards.” Just another puppet of the machine,” Elon said in a separate comment.
Hayley recently spoke out against Donald Trump at the iHeartRadio Music Festival. Paramore played five songs at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on September 20. During ‘Big Man, Little Dignity,’ Williams said, “Project 2025 is Donald Trump’s playbook for controlling and punishing women, poor people, people of colour, and the LGBTQ community.”
She added, “It is time for all Americans to band together and to finally defeat the Trump agenda. And the only way to do that is by confronting him at the polls. Do you want to live in a dictatorship? Well, show up and vote.”
After her speech, Hayley shared a tweet on Instagram, saying, “Remember the video of Paramore’s Hayley Williams bashing Trump and spewing lies about ‘Project 2025’ on stage? Yeah, turns out she was reading a SCRIPT. Who the hell gave it to her? Was she paid or blackmailed? NONE of this stuff is genuine! These ‘celebrities’ are merely given anti-Trump talking points to spew to their fans. It’s all a big show.”
Hayley replied, “Whoever you are, I typed out my speech and had a crew member hold it near the camera for me in case I got nervous bc what I had to say was important and I didn’t want to trip up in the moment. Didn’t end up looking at it though…”
“That’s because I prepared,” the vocalist added. “Finally, not only was I not paid to make the speech but we (Paramore) didn’t get paid to play that radio fest either. Just out here kicking a** for free I guess. Thanks so much for your concern and for spelling my name right, bye!”
This isn’t the first time Williams has shared her political views on stage. In 2023, she spoke out against Republican candidate Ron DeSantis during a New Jersey show and criticized his policies.
So disappointing
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 22, 2024
She was reading from cue cards
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 23, 2024
Just another puppet of the machine
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 22, 2024