Kacey Musgraves left concertgoers stunned on Sunday when she launched into an outspoken onstage criticism of Christopher Columbus, calling the famed explorer a “loser.”
The 38-year-old country singer, who recently became involved in a public clash with former Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem, made the comments during her Middle of Nowhere tour stop at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
Viral video of the shock moment showed Musgraves address the crowd, asking, ‘Yeah, that’s right, on this day? What day?’ with the crowd shouting back ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day!’
Wearing a glittering leotard with a cowboy hat, Musgraves delivered her blunt message from the stage, saying, “Obviously f**k Columbus. Literally the lamest person to probably ever exist. Like, for real. What a loser.”
She continued: “What a loser Christopher Columbus, we hate you!”
Columbus Day is observed each year in recognition of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus and his voyage across the Atlantic to the Americas.
Kacey Musgraves shocked fans on Sunday by calling legendary explorer Christopher Columbus a “loser” during an impassioned onstage rant, pictured in August 2026
Columbus Day was created to recognize Christopher Columbus’s voyage, but growing criticism has challenged his place in history because of the treatment of Indigenous people
In recent years, activists and others have pushed to reduce the emphasis on Columbus and replace or remove the holiday, citing the devastating treatment of Indigenous communities associated with European colonization.
Musgraves’ remarks quickly divided her audience. One critic argued, “No Columbus, no ocean crossing, no America for a Texas girl to get rich singing in. The lamest man to ever exist is the whole reason Kacey Musgraves has a stage to curse him from.”
Another questioned whether the singer had researched the subject, writing, “I wonder how much she has studied Columbus, or is she just repeating the latest social criticism?”
The commenter added, “Born in Texas, does this genius know that without Columbus she literally wouldn’t exist?”
Others objected to Musgraves bringing her views into the concert, with one person saying, “I hate it when entertainers think we care about their political views. Automatically isolates a large portion of their audience.”
Another user was even more direct: “OMG, just shut up and sing, girl. Nobody is there to listen to anything other than your songs.”
However, the singer also drew strong support from fans who welcomed her comments.
One supporter praised Musgraves for celebrating LGBTQ+ fans, Mexico and Spanish-language music, writing that she “shouted out the girls and gays, yelled ‘f**k Christopher Columbus!’, uplifted Mexico, sang in Spanish and brought out a mariachi band.”
The fan continued by saying Musgraves reminded the crowd that her music is for everyone and had “shut the whole debate down.”
“Texas needed that hope and she delivered, not gonna lie,” the supporter added.
During her Texas concert on Sunday, Musgraves condemned Columbus, calling him “the lamest person to probably ever exist” and declaring, “What a loser Christopher Columbus, we hate you!” pictured October 9, 2026
The country star faced a wave of online criticism after making the comments
Our News Outlet has contacted representatives for Musgraves for comment but has not yet received a response.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day has been around since 1977 when it was first introduced at a United Nations conference, and for the past three years, it has shared the same day with Columbus Day following a 2021 federal proclamation from President Joe Biden.
Columbus was born in Genoa, which is now part of Italy, in 1451. The Italian explorer is idolized by many for representing their heritage each year on the second Monday in October.
Spanish rulers, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand approved and funded his journey, but what they did not authorize were the indigenous people that he abducted and enslaved.
This comes after Musgraves lambasted Noem for previously admitting to shooting her dog, after the former Homeland Security secretary said she prefers country singer Ella Langley.
Others praised the star for her candid remarks onstage
The feud kicked off after Democratic politician James Talarico, who is running for the US senate, gushed about attending Musgraves’s Dallas concert on Saturday in a post on X.
After Talarico shared a photo with the singer and thanked her for having him at her show, Noem, 54, re-shared the post to her X and took a jab at Musgraves while endorsing conservative senate hopeful Ken Paxton.
‘I’ll take @ellalangleymsic over Kacey Musgraves any day. And if I’m choosin’ Texas, I’ll take Ken Paxton over James Talarico,’ she wrote.
Musgraves hit back, writing: ‘I don’t think you have a dog in this fight but if you did you would have shot it.’
The jab referenced Noem’s past admission that she shot her 14-month-old puppy, Cricket, after deeming her ‘untrainable.’
Musgraves recently blasted Kristi Noem, 54, for shooting her dog, after the former Homeland Security secretary said she prefers singer Ella Langley; Musgraves seen in 2025
In 2024, Noem admitted that she shot her 14-month-old puppy, Cricket, after deeming her ‘untrainable’; Noem pictured in March
In 2024, Noem defended shooting her puppy after her confession sparked massive backlash.
Noem caused a storm after she revealed she shot the dog in her book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward.
Responding to the backlash, Noem said she ‘can understand why some people are upset about a 20 year old story of Cricket.’
The Republican continued: ‘The book is filled with many honest stories of my life, good and bad days, challenges, painful decisions, and lessons learned. What I learned from my years of public service, especially leading South Dakota through COVID, is people are looking for leaders who are authentic, willing to learn from the past, and don’t shy away from tough challenges.’
‘My hope is anyone reading this book will have an understanding that I always work to make the best decisions I can for the people in my life.’
‘The fact is, South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down. Given that Cricket had shown aggressive behavior toward people by biting them, I decided what I did. Whether running the ranch or in politics, I have never passed on my responsibilities to anyone else to handle. Even if it’s hard and painful.
‘I followed the law and was being a responsible parent, dog owner, and neighbor. As I explained in the book, it wasn’t easy. But often the easy way isn’t the right way.’
Noem claimed she included the tale in her book to show her willingness to do anything ‘difficult, messy and ugly’ if it has to be done.
The feud kicked off after Democratic politician James Talarico, who is running for the US senate, gushed about attending Musgraves’s Dallas concert on Saturday in a post on X
Noem re-shared the post to her X account, writing, ‘I’ll take @ellalangleymsic over Kacey Musgraves any day. And if I’m choosin’ Texas, I’ll take Ken Paxton over James Talarico’
Musgraves hit back, writing, ‘I don’t think you have a dog in this fight but if you did you would have shot it’
A Facebook picture shows Noem with a gun
Noem is photographed with a different dog that she owned, Hazel, in a Facebook snap
Noem previously took to social media to defend herself. ‘We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm,’ she said on X
The Republican wrote that she took Cricket on a hunting trip with older dogs in hopes of calming down the wild puppy. Instead, Cricket chased the pheasants while ‘having the time of her life.’
Noem wrote that on the way home from the hunting trip, when she stopped to talk to a family, Cricket got out of her truck and attacked and killed some of the family’s chickens, and then bit the governor.
Noem apologized profusely, wrote the distraught family a check for the deceased chickens, and helped them dispose of the carcasses, she writes. She wrote that Cricket ‘was the picture of joy’ as all that unfolded.
‘I hated that dog,’ Noem wrote, deeming her ‘untrainable.’
‘At that moment,’ she said, ‘I realized I had to put her down.’
Noem then recalled leading Cricket to a gravel pit and shooting her dead.
That wasn’t all. Noem wrote that her family also owned a ‘nasty and mean’ male goat that smelled bad and liked to chase her kids, so she decided to go ahead and kill the goat, too.
She wrote that the goat survived the first shot, so she went back to the truck, got another shell, then shot him again, killing him.
Noem previously took to social media to defend herself.
‘We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm,’ she said on X.
Meanwhile; Langley has recently come under fire after her old hunting photos resurfaced online; The singer seen in September
‘Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years.’
Noem has also made headlines in recent weeks after it was revealed in September that she filed for divorce from her husband Bryon, just months after Our News Outlet exposed his crossdressing online porn fetish.
Court documents submitted on April 6 cite ‘irreconcilable differences’ as the grounds for the split.
Bryon’s cross-dressing fetish and explicit exchanges with online porn models were exposed in March, nearly 34 years after the couple married in 1992.
Meanwhile, country superstar Langley has recently come under fire after her old hunting photos resurfaced online.
The Choosin’ Texas hitmaker, 27, has posted a series of images to her own social media accounts of her various kills over the years, which were slammed as ‘awful’ and ‘disgusting’ by fans.
