If it seemed like Kacey Musgraves was underdressed on Saturday Night Live this weekend during her performance of “Justified,” that’s because she was, indeed, totally naked. Your eyes weren’t deceiving you if it looked like the Star-Crossed star was wearing nothing but a pair of boots and a smile during the first song on Saturday’s show.
“She was nude,” Musgraves’ publicist told Variety. “Precautions were taken, and this was the first time it’s happened on the show.” Thanks to some clever lighting tricks and her full-coverage acoustic guitar, you may not have noticed that Musgraves was rocking her birthday suit while sitting on a stool as the camera cleverly avoided fully revealing her secret.
But Musgraves let the news slip on Sunday in a cheeky Tweet that revealed the nude news via a photo of her bare backside and a clue to why she decided to go commando on the show. As it turns out, the idea was inspired by Robin Wright’s Forrest Gump character Jenny, who pulls a similar stunt while performing as “Bobbi Dylan” in the Oscar-winning 1994 Tom Hanks film.
The cat was let out of the bag by the singer’s stylist, Erica Cloud, who commented, “Boots by @celine, Birthday suit by @spaceykacey.” Variety also reported that a number of Reddit users confirmed the stunt, with fans in attendance at the taping saying that after the dress rehearsal Musgraves’ team “gathered around her with large towels to wrap her so [she] could stand and walk off stage.”
Another said, “Was at the live. Pretty sure she was actually naked. I was on the audience side closest to her. Right before her first song, they set up a moveable wall, blocking the audience from seeing her. After the song, they moved it back to cover her again and covered her with some sort of towel/robe. She was super chill, kinda walked off stage in the towel and waved. But yeah, seemed pretty legit.”
Musgraves was fully dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt for her second song, the emotional “Camera Roll,” which also appears on her new Star-Crossed album.
Watch the performance below.