Carrie Underwood on her harsh Sound of Music critics: Mean people need Jesus

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Nelson Mandela passed away on Thursday, which I found out in the early evening (EST). I spent most of that evening switching between CNN and MSNBC’s coverage of Mandela’s passing – both channels were able to put together some nice pieces and panel discussions about Mandela’s life and legacy.

You know what else happened on Thursday night? Carrie Underwood starred in a “live event” on NBC – a live, stage show of The Sound of Music. Out of curiosity, I stopped on NBC at one point to see how she was doing. It was awful! Like… even though I don’t care for Carrie (at all), I think she has a good voice and I’ll admit to singing “Jesus Take the Wheel” on occasion (it IS a good song!). But the role of Maria requires a lot more than a decent voice. Maria is sweet, almost sugary. She so innocent she doesn’t even realize that she’s in love with the Captain, and she doesn’t realize that the Captain loves her as well. But the way Carrie played Maria… all of a sudden, Maria was a conniving, devious nun who couldn’t wait to take down the Baroness. It was terrible.

A lot of other people thought so too – the TV event earned Carrie some of the worst criticisms of her career (but the event did bring in a decent ratings spike for NBC). People panned her “acting,” and her performance in total and some of the criticism was… sharp, to say the least. So how has Carrie reacted? Well, she tweeted this:

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“Plain and simple: Mean people need Jesus. They will be in my prayers tonight…1 Peter 2:1-25.” The Biblical reference is here – it’s basically like “Haters be haters, especially when it comes to people of faith.” But no one was really saying anything about Carrie’s faith or who she is as a Christian, so I don’t really understand that argument. We can criticize Carrie’s performance without it becoming some sort of “we’re attacking the very essence of who she is,” right? I hate when people use their faith like it’s some sort of invincibility cloak that will shield them from reality. In other words, Carrie, get off the cross, people need the wood.

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Photos courtesy of WENN, NBC.

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