Keith Urban covered Chappell Roan’s ‘Pink Pony Club’ for the Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, leaving some fans of both artists confused.
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Urban’s intimate set was for his countryman’s holiday party, and saw him play a range of covers, including ‘Pink Pony Club’ and Bob Marley and the Wailers’ ‘Is This Love’, with a small backing band. He also performed his own 2024 single, ‘Messed Up As Me’.
Realtor Tali Israel posted clips on Instagram, writing: “President Trump at Anthony Pratt’s (who just so generously pledged five billion dollars toward American manufacturing projects) holiday party at the Mar-a-Lago. Amazing people and great entertainment by Keith Urban.”
Per Billboard, Urban’s representative had no comment on his performance at the party, which comes weeks after it was revealed that Urban had separated from Nicole Kidman, his wife of 19 years and the mother of his two children.
Since Israel’s footage went viral, some famous figures and fans alike have voiced confusion – both that Urban was there in the first place and also over his song choices. Butch Walker, who has worked with Urban in the past and is currently the lead guitarist for Train, wrote that it was a “disappointment”, while one commentator said, “I know Keith probably doesn’t want to be involved in politics but a very precarious choice aligning with this current administration hopefully he was paid very well,” and another simply wrote “Yikes”.
Others made reference to ‘Pink Pony Club’s status as an LGBTQ+ anthem, one writing, Keith Urban low-key trolled the MAGA [Make America Great Again] crowd at Mar-a-Lago by playing ‘Pink Pony Club’ without most of them realising they got trolled. Take that paycheck Keith Urban!” and another leaving the tongue-in-cheek comment: “An immigrant covering a song by a queer artist! I love how progressive and accepting the Republican Party has become.”
Urban, who is a citizen of Australia, New Zealand and the United States, doesn’t often share his political views. He said in 2017, during Trump’s first term as president, that he was unsure whether he’d accept an invitation to perform at the White House (via The Hill), saying he’d “like to probably answer that question when it comes up”.
And, he told The Times last September, “I’m often amazed that people don’t look to artists’ work — they’re pretty clear on who they are and their views, and I’m no different. … I play to extremely diverse audiences in every way, politically and pronoun, age groups, ethnicity.”
Roan, meanwhile, is a vocal critic of Trump. Ahead of the election last year, she said on TikTok: “Fuck Trump for fucking real, but fuck some of the shit that has gone down in the Democratic party that has failed people like me and you – and, more so, Palestine, and more so, every marginalised community in the world.”
