Did Carrie Underwood win a billion-dollar defamation lawsuit against "The View" or did she even sue them? No, that's not true: The story alleging there was a lawsuit involving comments on "The View" about Underwood's performance at President Trump's inauguration was put out by a number of clickbait channels on YouTube, but it was not backed up by any sources or evidence. Underwood's own site and social media did not mention any such lawsuit and there were no news articles about it.
A viral example of the story showed up in a video (archived here) published on YouTube channel "Top Adventure Time" on February 3, 2025, under the title "Carrie Underwood's $1 Billion Victory: Defamation Lawsuit Shakes The View, Joy Behar & Sunny Hostin!". The description read:
The entertainment industry has seen its fair share of scandals, but nothing prepared Hollywood for the legal storm Carrie Underwood unleashed. What started as a simple performance at a presidential inauguration quickly spiraled into a heated controversy, vicious attacks from The View, and ultimately, a billion-dollar lawsuit that shook Disney to its core. How did a country music legend find herself at war with some of the biggest names in media? And why did The View's empire start crumbling brick by brick? The details will shock you. Let's break it all down.
Carrie Underwood has always been known for her music, not her politics. With a career built on sheer talent, faith, and hard work, she's steered clear of controversial debates. But in a move that no one expected to spark outrage, she was invited to perform America the Beautiful at Donald Trump's second inauguration. It was a prestigious honor--an opportunity that many legendary artists had taken in past inaugurations, regardless of their political affiliations.
But in today's hyper-divisive climate, The View saw her decision not as an artist honoring her country but as a political statement. And that's when things got ugly.
The morning after the inauguration, The View wasted no time in tearing Carrie apart. The hosts accused her of "normalizing hate," aligning with extremists, and even "selling out" for choosing to perform at the event. The rhetoric was brutal, and it didn't stop there. Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, and Sunny Hostin took turns painting Carrie as a traitor to the values of American democracy.
Click below to watch the video on YouTube:
According to a Google search for videos matching the phrase ""Carrie Underwood's $1 Billion Victory"", the video (or variations of it) was swiftly republished by several copycat channels (archived here)
One of the earliest places the video appeared was embedded in an article on a site simply named "News" on February 4, 2025 (archived here) titled "Carrie Underwood's $1 Billion Victory: Defamation Lawsuit Shakes The View, Joy Behar & Sunny Hostin".
It followed a formulaic structure often used in clickbait article headlines: a person, company or group that is liked or disliked by the intended audience for political or cultural reasons gets (fictionally) punished or rewarded in some way, for example by losing or gaining a contract, job, endorsement, business deal, award or title.
The website posts dozens of articles per day, sometimes in different languages, indicating it may be part of a content farm or spam network. It also did not list any publishers or owners.
In reality, the hosts of "The View" were generally supportive and understanding of Underwood's decision to perform, as you can see for yourself in a video segment (archived here) that was also used in the clickbait article:
USA Today at the time published a story, "Whoopi Goldberg defends Carrie Underwood's decision to sing at Trump inauguration" (archived here), that read:
Whoopi Goldberg is no fan of President-elect Donald Trump, but she supports Carrie Underwood's decision to perform at his inauguration.
The hosts of "The View" weighed in Tuesday on Underwood's announcement that she will sing "America the Beautiful" next week before Trump is sworn into office for his second term. While Underwood sparked backlash among some Trump critics, Goldberg defended the "American Idol" star.
"I stand behind her," she said. "If I believe I have the right to make up my mind to go perform someplace, I believe they have the same right. So I have to support (her). It doesn't mean I'm particularly interested in watching. I won't be watching. But that's me."
Carrie Underwood made no mention of any such lawsuit or a billion dollar win on her X profile (archived here), her Facebook page (archived here) and on the "news" section of her website (archived here).
A search on Google News for news stories mentioning the terms "carrie underwood" "the view" and "billion" brought up no news stories mentioning any such lawsuit (archived here).
