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Billy Ray Cyrusis refusing to draw party lines when it comes to his live performances for U.S. presidents.

The musician, 64, spoke about performing at PresidentDonald Trump's second inauguration in January 2025, tellingSky News in an April 14 interviewhe would perform for presidents whether they are Republican or Democrat.

He said his outlook stems from advice from his late father, Ron Cyrus, who served in the Kentucky House of Representatives for 11 consecutive terms and died in 2006 at age 70.

"My dad was a Democrat and served in the Kentucky legislature for over 20 years. But my dad always said, ‘When the president asks you to do something, you do it, son,'" Cyrus told Sky News. "So I've had both democratic and republican presidents. Served withBill Clinton, withPresident [Barack] Obama, Mr.[George W.] Bush, Mr. Bush's dad [George H.W. Bush] and Mr.[Donald] Trump."

He continued: "Being president is a tough job. I pray for our country. I pray for our president, and I pray for our world."

Billy Ray Cyrus says he wouldn't have missed Trump's inauguration

AtTrump's inauguration at the Liberty Ball, a gala following the swearing-in, Cyrus left fans both confused and disappointed due to technical problems and creative choices during his set.

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The musician baffled fans when he mainly watched the music video to his 2019 remix of "Old Town Road" playing behind him on large projectors and muttered his parts of the track in the microphone too quietly to distinguish from the recording. As he performed "Achy Breaky Heart," he realized his electric guitar was not hooked up to the audio system and eventually opted to sing acapella when an effort to reconfigure the setup failed.

The next day, Cyrus issued a statement toPeople magazinesharing that he was honored to play at the inauguration event, adding, "I was there because President Donald J. Trump invited me."

"I wouldn't have missed the honor of playing this event whether my microphone, guitar and monitors worked or not," he said. "I've learned through all these years when the producer says, 'You're on,' you go entertain the folks even if the equipment goes to hell. I was there for the people and we had a blast. That's called rock n roll!!!"

The "Hannah Montana" alum's performance was blasted online with one X user calling it "possibly the cringiest few minutes in entertainment history." Other critics condemned artists like Cyrus for performing at the inauguration, arguing they were cosigning some of Trump's most controversial positions, while others havedefendedartists putting politics aside.

Contributing: Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Billy Ray Cyrus defends performing for U.S. presidents on both parties

Billy Ray Cyrusis opening up about his decision to perform for both Democratic and Republican presidents. While discussing hisperformanceat Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025 in a recent interview, the country music star said that he would accept an invitation from all presidents. He mentioned that he would do it irrespective of their party affiliations.

Billy Ray Cyrus addresses performing for Presidents of both parties

In a Tuesday, April 14, interview withSky News, Billy Ray Cyrus explained why he chooses to perform for both Democratic and Republican presidents.

“My dad was a Democrat and served in the Kentucky legislature for over 20 years. But my dad always said, ‘When the president asks you to do something, you do it, son,'” Cyrus shared. “So I’ve had both democratic and republican presidents. Served with Bill Clinton, with President [Barack] Obama, Mr. [George W.] Bush, Mr. Bush’s dad [George H.W. Bush], and Mr. [Donald] Trump.”

Cyrus went on to add, “Being president is a tough job. I pray for our country. I pray for our president, and I pray for our world.”

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The “Achy Breaky Heart” hitmaker made headlines last year for his bizarre performance atTrump’sinauguration at the Liberty Ball. The singer left fans confused after he appeared to mumble his lyrics while the backing track was missing as well.

Cyrus later addressed the technical issues in a statement shared withPEOPLE. “I wouldn’t have missed the honor of playing this event, whether my microphone, guitar, and monitors worked or not. I was there because President Donald J. Trump invited me,” the singer said at the time.

He added, “I had a ball at the Liberty Ball last night, and I’ve learned through all these years when the producer says, ‘You’re on,’ you go entertain the folks even if the equipment goes to hell. I was there for the people, and we had a blast. That’s called rock n roll!!!”

Originally reported by Namrata Ghosh onMandatory.

The postBilly Ray Cyrus Defends Performing for Both Democratic & Republican Presidentsappeared first onReality Tea.

HANOI, April 16 (Reuters) - Vietnam's president To Lam is set to meet his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae Myung in Hanoi next week, five people familiar with the matter ‌said.

Lee's visit would be the first by a foreign leader to Vietnam since Lam ‌was elected president last week, a move that allows him to combine the post with the leadership of the Communist Party, ​the most powerful job in the one-party state.

It would not be however Lam's first top-level meeting in his new position, as he met China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Wednesday.

The meeting is currently scheduled for April 23, the sources said.

Government cooperation agreements are likely to be signed. Seoul is also ‌interested in some of Vietnam's largest ⁠infrastructure projects, such as railways and nuclear power plants, but no major decisions are expected in those areas, they said.

South Korea's foreign ministry declined to comment. ⁠Vietnam's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

South Korea is the largest investor in the Southeast Asian nation in terms of accumulated capital, with output from Samsung factories alone accounting for more than ​one-tenth ​of the country's exports. Yet Korean investment pledges fell ​about 25% last year from 2024, according ‌to Vietnam's government data, amid trade uncertainties and concerns over Vietnam's regulations.

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The meeting would be the leaders' second in about eight months, after Lam visited Seoul in August, the first foreign leader hosted by Lee after he was elected president in Seoul.

Lee will be accompanied by a large business delegation including officials from Samsung, with multiple corporate agreements expected to be signed, possibly on April 23, ‌officials have said without elaborating on the possible deals.

Samsung's talks ​with Vietnamese authorities to build a back-end semiconductor factory ​have made progress after years of negotiations, ​but it remains unclear when any announcement could be made, three people familiar ‌with the matter said.

Reports of a planned $4 ​billion investment in a semiconductor ​testing, and possibly packaging, facility were removed from Vietnamese media in recent days.

The three people said Samsung's potential outlay had not been finalised. The total initial investment would be smaller ​and could expand over time, potentially ‌including a cluster of suppliers, one of them said.

Samsung declined to comment.

(Reporting by Francesco ​Guarascio, Phuong Nguyen, Khanh Vu in Hanoi; Additional reporting by Hyun Joo Jin and ​Kyu-seok Shim in Seoul; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Ken Jennings was recently asked about finally losing Jeopardy! in 2004, after a 74-game winning streak

NEED TO KNOW

• The fan asked if he really didn't know the answer, or if he lost on purpose because he was bored

• The now Jeopardy!-host assured the fan that he truly did not know the answer at the time

Ken Jenningsis getting candid about his loss onJeopardy!in 2004, after he won74 straight gamesand amassed $2.5 million. (He still holds the record for the longest winning streak, but eventually lost to Nancy Zerg after getting the answer wrong in Final Jeopardy during his 75th show.)

On April 14, on theInside Jeopardy!Podcast, hosted by the show's executive producerSarah Whitcomb-Foss, Foss shared a video of a recent Q&A that Jennings did prior to a recent show taping, where a fan asked him about the loss.

“This question has been haunting me for 20 years. Did you really not know the answer to the last Final Jeopardy question on your last episode?” the audience member asked.

The answer was no, Jennings didnotlose on purpose.

"For 20 years, this gentleman has been thinking I took a dive," Jennings said to laughter.

Jennings continued, “Haveyouever willingly quit a job where you were making $70,000 an hour?”

The question that Jennings lost on, in the “Business & Industry” category was: “Most of this firm’s 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work for 4 months of the year.”

Jennings wrote, “What is FedEx?” The correct answer was "What is H&R Block?"

He says fans still come up to him and ask him about finally losing after 74 games, saying,  "I think people who ask me this question usually just want to saytheyknew it was H&R Block," he said jokingly.

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“It turned out it was a question about H&R Block, a tax prep company. I always did my own taxes,” Jennings continued. “No, but I think I could have thought about that one all day, and I would not have figured out that was H&R Block.”

"That's how these long runs go — they always seem inevitable until a few things happen. And then suddenly they're not so inevitable anymore," he said of the streak eventually ending.

Jennings first took over hosting duties in 2021, afterAlex Trebeksigned off following 40 years following a Jan 8. show that had been pre-taped and ran after Trebek's Nov. 8death from pancreatic cancer, at age 80.

"I understand better than anybody that these are very big shoes to fill," Jennings told PEOPLE at the time. "I expect people to be a little discontented when they see me. I'm right there with them. The only thing I can do is to try doing the job the best I can.”

He added, "I grew up watching Alex, and he did that job perfectly. But I also knew that it was a hard job from watching him — he just did it so effortlessly."

In 2018, Trebek told PEOPLE that Jennings had been one of his favorite contestants ever.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“When Ken finally lost after 74 games, that was a sad moment for me,” Trebek said at the time. “I shed a tear, just because this marvelous streak had suddenly come to an end. And it’ll never be matched. Nobody will do it. That was the perfect wave.”

Read the original article onPeople

The United States continued to mount a navalblockadeof Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, exerting financial pressure on Tehran while at the same time choking off a source of oil amid a historicglobal shortage.

The move comes as Americans grapple with asurgein gasoline prices that threatens to eat away at household budgets andslowthe economy.

Gasoline prices in the U.S. registered at $4.10 on average per gallon on Wednesday, standing about 35% higher than before the war,AAAdata showed.

How the US Navy could enforce a blockade of Iran's ports in the Strait of Hormuz

The blockade risks higher prices at the pump since oil trades on a global market, meaning a loss of supply in the Middle East could raise prices for Americans, some analysts said.

But, they added, the strategy may hasten a resolution of the war or reassure non-Iranian tankers otherwise hesitant to travel the strait, ultimately alleviating the oil shock and pushing down gas prices.

"This is an economic game of chicken," Tyler Schipper, a professor of economics at the University of St. Thomas, told ABC News.

Ten vessels have beenturned aroundat the Strait of Hormuz during the first 48 hours of the U.S. blockade, complying with U.S. orders, according to U.S. Central Command.

On Wednesday, the commander of the Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters of Iran’s armed forces said the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports is a "violation of the ceasefire," in a statement published by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

The war prompted Iran's effective closure of theStrait of Hormuz, a critical waterway that facilitates the transport of 20 million barrels of oil per day, or about one-fifth of the global supply.

Iran continued to export nearly 2 million barrels of oil each day through the strait, blunting some of the supply loss, according to energy data firmKpler.

Still, in March, oil prices notched their largest one-month gain ever, the International Energy Agencysaidin a new report on Tuesday.

The potential loss of Iranian oil exports amid the blockade could deepen the supply shock and raise gasoline prices further, some analysts said.

"The move toward a full blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is compounding global supply concerns and risks further disrupting flows," GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan said in a post on X on Monday.

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Car owners, De Haan added, "should prepare for another round of price increases."

Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University, echoed such concern.

"It's unclear to me how this moves to quickly solve the problem that vessels aren't transiting the Strait of Hormuz," Miller told ABC News. "Every day this continues, it gets worse and worse and worse."

Price hikes have not come to pass over the initial days of the blockade, however.

West Texas Intermediate futures price, the benchmark index for U.S. trading, clocked in at about $92 a barrel on Wednesday, marking a nearly 10% drop since the blockade began at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday.

Even so, U.S. oil prices remain about 40% higher than pre-war levels.

The national average price of a gallon of gas as of Wednesday stood 1.4% lower than a week earlier.

The ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran entered its second week, appearing to boost hopes of a resolution to the war.

President Donald Trump reiterated his desire to wind down the conflict, meanwhile, saying the war is "very close to over" in a portion of an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that aired on Tuesday.

Trump shares image of Jesus embracing him, continues to lash out at Pope Leo

Rather than restrict oil supply, the U.S. blockade could ultimately add crude to the market if the naval presence reassures non-Iranian ships otherwise unwilling to sail through the strait, Dominic Pappalardo, chief multi-asset strategist at Morningstar Wealth, told ABC News.

"For countries other than Iran, does the blockade give them more trust for sending oil through the strait?" Pappalarado said. "If other countries start to gain confidence, you could see other shipments pick up for non-Iranian vessels pushing through the strait, which would help alleviate upward pressure on the price."

As of Monday, tanker traffic remained well below pre-war levels after the blockade had taken effect, Kpler said in a post onX. Six vessels sailed through the strait on Monday, Kpler said, marking a decline from 14 vessels a day prior.

The conditions in the strait remain in flux, some analysts said, leaving a wide range of possible outcomes.

"There's still tremendous uncertainty," Miller said.