Two women. Two very different events. One identical playbook. And a public that is getting increasingly skeptical of how often celebrities reach for it.<\/p>\n
The Script<\/strong><\/h2>\n![\"animal-rescue](\"https:\/\/wealthofgeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Katherine-and-Mother.jpg\" "\\"animal-rescue")
Katherine Heigl and her mother Nancy Heigl at the Wine, Women & Shoes fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida, March 8, 2026. Screenshot: ExtraTV\/Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHeigl\u2019s statement to JustJared was careful, controlled, and clearly pre-written. \u201cAnimals don\u2019t vote. The only room they don\u2019t like is the euthanasia room at a shelter. They are completely at the mercy of us, and they have no voice of their own.\u201d She framed the entire event as apolitical, a gathering of people who love dogs, raising money for dogs, on behalf of dogs, who do not have opinions about the 47th president.<\/p>\n
She also brought receipts. The Jason Heigl Foundation<\/a>, which she co-founded with her mother Nancy in 2008 in honor of her late brother, has spent nearly two decades funding spay-and-neuter work, rescue partnerships, and anti-gas-chamber advocacy. This is not a woman who invented animal advocacy for a Mar-a-Lago photo op. The cause is real. The credentials are documented.<\/p>\nSo is the venue. So are the faces around it. And so is the pattern.<\/p>\n![\"anti-gas-chamber](\"https:\/\/wealthofgeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Mar-a-Lago-1024x576.jpg\" "\\"anti-gas-chamber")
Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, where Heigl attended the March 2026 animal-rescue fundraiser. Credit: Jud McCranie\/Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWhen Underwood confirmed her inauguration performance in January 2025, her statement landed in almost the same register. \u201cI love our country and am honored to have been asked to sing at the Inauguration and to be a small part of this historic event. I am humbled to answer the call<\/a> at a time when we must all come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future.\u201d The cause \u2014 patriotism, national unity, honoring the moment \u2014 was real. The credentials, for a woman who has performed at the Opry and won eight Grammys, were not in question. And in 2019, she told The Guardian<\/em> that she tries to stay far from <\/span>politics in public because nobody wins.<\/p>\nNobody won.<\/p>\n
The Comment Section Disagrees<\/strong><\/h2>\nWhat neither woman anticipated \u2014 or both anticipated perfectly and chose to ignore \u2014 is that \u201cit\u2019s not political\u201d lands differently in 2025 and 2026 than it might have five years ago. The venue is the message now, in a way it simply wasn\u2019t before.<\/p>\n
Heigl\u2019s critics weren\u2019t just complaining about dogs. \u201cThere are so many amazing rescues to align yourself with that aren\u2019t hosting events there,\u201d one commenter wrote. Heigl fired back asking whether that person had ever attended a charity event or donated money to anything. The exchange escalated from there \u2014 confirmation, if any was needed, that \u201cthis isn\u2019t political\u201d is now its own political statement.<\/p>\n![\"Carrie](\"https:\/\/wealthofgeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Carrie-Underwood-Hero-1024x575.jpg\" "\\"Carrie")
Carrie Underwood during Hollywood Week: Music City Takeover, American Idol Season 24. Screenshot: American Idol\/YouTube.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nUnderwood\u2019s critics weren\u2019t just complaining about patriotism. \u201cI\u2019ve been booing you since the inauguration,\u201d one X user replied to her Hollywood Week post. At least online, the boos she received on American Idol<\/em> were never fully separable from January 20, 2025. Viewers made that connection immediately. \u201cBoo me. I don\u2019t care<\/a>\u201d is a perfectly calibrated response to both things simultaneously \u2014 the judging critique and the political noise \u2014 without acknowledging that they had already become the same noise for a lot of people watching.<\/p>\nThe Defense That Stops Working<\/strong><\/h2>\nHere is the genuine tension underneath both stories. Both women have legitimate, documented reasons to be where they were. Heigl\u2019s animal advocacy predates any political calculus. Underwood\u2019s career has always included performing at national events. Neither of them owes the internet a loyalty test. And the cause-over-context argument \u2014 I was there for the animals, I was there for the country \u2014 is not automatically cynical just because it\u2019s convenient.<\/p>\n![\"fundraiser\"](\"https:\/\/wealthofgeeks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BDRR-1024x575.jpg\" "\\"fundraiser\\"")
Big Dog Ranch Rescue, the largest cage-free, no-kill dog rescue in the United States, beneficiary of the Mar-a-Lago fundraiser. Credit: Big Dog Ranch Rescue\/Youtube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBut \u201cit\u2019s not political\u201d as a defense has a shelf life. It works once, maybe twice. After that, it starts to sound less like a principle and more like a strategy.<\/p>\n
Both women have now used it. Both walked into politically charged spaces with genuine credentials, genuine causes, and strikingly similar explanations for why the location shouldn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n
The public is still arguing about whether it does.<\/p>\n
So here\u2019s the question neither statement actually answers: if the cause is real and the venue is irrelevant, why does the same defense keep showing up \u2014 in slightly different language \u2014 every time a celebrity ends up somewhere that requires explaining?<\/p>\n
Heigl\u2019s statement to JustJared was careful, controlled, and clearly pre-written. \u201cAnimals don\u2019t vote. The only room they don\u2019t like is the euthanasia room at a shelter. They are completely at the mercy of us, and they have no voice of their own.\u201d She framed the entire event as apolitical, a gathering of people who love dogs, raising money for dogs, on behalf of dogs, who do not have opinions about the 47th president.<\/p>\n
She also brought receipts. The Jason Heigl Foundation<\/a>, which she co-founded with her mother Nancy in 2008 in honor of her late brother, has spent nearly two decades funding spay-and-neuter work, rescue partnerships, and anti-gas-chamber advocacy. This is not a woman who invented animal advocacy for a Mar-a-Lago photo op. The cause is real. The credentials are documented.<\/p>\n So is the venue. So are the faces around it. And so is the pattern.<\/p>\n When Underwood confirmed her inauguration performance in January 2025, her statement landed in almost the same register. \u201cI love our country and am honored to have been asked to sing at the Inauguration and to be a small part of this historic event. I am humbled to answer the call<\/a> at a time when we must all come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future.\u201d The cause \u2014 patriotism, national unity, honoring the moment \u2014 was real. The credentials, for a woman who has performed at the Opry and won eight Grammys, were not in question. And in 2019, she told The Guardian<\/em> that she tries to stay far from <\/span>politics in public because nobody wins.<\/p>\n Nobody won.<\/p>\n What neither woman anticipated \u2014 or both anticipated perfectly and chose to ignore \u2014 is that \u201cit\u2019s not political\u201d lands differently in 2025 and 2026 than it might have five years ago. The venue is the message now, in a way it simply wasn\u2019t before.<\/p>\n Heigl\u2019s critics weren\u2019t just complaining about dogs. \u201cThere are so many amazing rescues to align yourself with that aren\u2019t hosting events there,\u201d one commenter wrote. Heigl fired back asking whether that person had ever attended a charity event or donated money to anything. The exchange escalated from there \u2014 confirmation, if any was needed, that \u201cthis isn\u2019t political\u201d is now its own political statement.<\/p>\n Underwood\u2019s critics weren\u2019t just complaining about patriotism. \u201cI\u2019ve been booing you since the inauguration,\u201d one X user replied to her Hollywood Week post. At least online, the boos she received on American Idol<\/em> were never fully separable from January 20, 2025. Viewers made that connection immediately. \u201cBoo me. I don\u2019t care<\/a>\u201d is a perfectly calibrated response to both things simultaneously \u2014 the judging critique and the political noise \u2014 without acknowledging that they had already become the same noise for a lot of people watching.<\/p>\n Here is the genuine tension underneath both stories. Both women have legitimate, documented reasons to be where they were. Heigl\u2019s animal advocacy predates any political calculus. Underwood\u2019s career has always included performing at national events. Neither of them owes the internet a loyalty test. And the cause-over-context argument \u2014 I was there for the animals, I was there for the country \u2014 is not automatically cynical just because it\u2019s convenient.<\/p>\n But \u201cit\u2019s not political\u201d as a defense has a shelf life. It works once, maybe twice. After that, it starts to sound less like a principle and more like a strategy.<\/p>\n Both women have now used it. Both walked into politically charged spaces with genuine credentials, genuine causes, and strikingly similar explanations for why the location shouldn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n The public is still arguing about whether it does.<\/p>\n So here\u2019s the question neither statement actually answers: if the cause is real and the venue is irrelevant, why does the same defense keep showing up \u2014 in slightly different language \u2014 every time a celebrity ends up somewhere that requires explaining?<\/p>\nThe Comment Section Disagrees<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Defense That Stops Working<\/strong><\/h2>\n