Rosie O’Donnell is saying in public what she already said in private: I’m sorry. The comedian and former talk show host posted a public mea culpa on Wednesday (Oct. 7) to her longtime friend country singer Wynonna Judd after painting her with a MAGA brush in an interview earlier this summer.
“I was wrong to assume Wy was a Trump supporter just because she performed at marlargo – but as she told me she has sung for seven presidents on both sides of the aisle,” O’Donnell wrote in her post. “My apologies here publicly (as I first made them privately) #friendship – she’s touring her new album now – go see her SING like no one else on earth #wynonnajudd.”
At press time it did not appear as if Wynonna had responded to O’Donnell’s public apology, but a rep for EW said Judd “did not” perform for Trump and that the second-term president was not in attendance when the singer performed at an unrelated event referenced by O’Donnell. “You know what they say about the word ‘assume,’” added the unnamed rep, who noted that Judd has performed for seven presidents on both sides of the aisle, beginning with Democrat Jimmy Carter and including six subsequent commanders in chief, but excluding Trump.
In August, O’Donnell, a fierce and outspoken critic of Trump, said on The Tangle podcast that her pal Judd was a rare example of a MAGA supporter in her life. “Now, I am friends with Wynonna Judd, who I love very much, and I’ve known her for many, many years,” O’Donnell said on the pod. “And she is a supporter of Trump. And somehow, we never bring it up. I give her a grace in a way. She’s had so much in her life with her mom taking her own life and just the complicated nature of her upbringing. And I really love her, and I care about her, and, for some reason, I’m able to put that aside when we interact.”
After keeping her powder dry for two months, Judd told People last week that O’Donnell’s comments were “100%” an assumption about her political proclivities. “I’m in shock, just so you know. I’ve never spoken to her about politics in my life. She doesn’t know anything about my stuff. I’m an independent,” Judd told the magazine, noting that she has made it a point to not discuss politics.
According to The Independent, Judd performed at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in 2023, but the president was not there that night; Setlist.fm also lists a Nov. 16, 2023 Judd performance at Mar-a-Lago, though a full setlist is not available on the site. At press time a spokesperson for Judd had not returned Billboard‘s request for confirmation on the Mar-a-Lago date.
Judd, who just released her deeply emotional The Hard Truth album, also said that she was “not angry” with O’Donnell about the comment but had no idea where it came from. “It’s complete assumption. I heard it and I went, ‘What the…?’,” Judd recalled thinking. “I don’t ever remember talking to her about this, so she’s just assuming’ … I just don’t want drama. So if there’s going to be drama [about it], I’m like, ‘Oh for crap’s sake, there’s so much going on right now in the world. Can we just love each other?’”
