Fergie is taking her lumps on social media for her rendition of the U.S. national anthem at Sunday night’s NBA All-Star game in Los Angeles.
“The WORST National Anthem EVER!,” read one tweet. Another read: “The absolute worst rendition of the national anthem that I have ever heard in my entire life.”
Someone named Yordy Diaz tweeted that Fergie was so bad, Colin Kaepernick “stood up and told her not to disrespect the Anthem like that.”
Roseanne Barr, who famously butchered the anthem at a major league baseball game in 1990, tweeted: “I think mine was better.”
So. I think Fergie’s #NationalAnthem performance at the #NBAAllStar game may have been the most uncomfortable performance of that song in its history. It felt like she was making love to the song in the worst way possible. Yikes.
— Kayla Braxton (@KaylaBraxtonWWE) February 19, 2018
Fergie’s screechy, sultry version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” on Sunday even prompted Canadian singer k.d. lang to tweet: “Would it be so bad if we just dropped the national anthem altogether from sports events.”
Variety’s Chris Willman wondered why the 42-year-old singer would “deliberately do a sexy sendup of a nation’s most sacred ballad.” He added: “Even if she’d pulled it off, you might also wonder why anyone … thought it was a good idea to have a sexy national anthem at the end of one of the more somber weeks in America’s recent history.”
Comedian Bob Saget tweeted: “Fergie's rendition of the National Anthem was originally written by Francis Scott Out of Key.”
Fergie was singing like she was in a car that kept making sharp turns
— Kazeem Famuyide (@RealLifeKaz) February 19, 2018
Among those watching Fergie perform in the arena were Beyoncé, Common and late night host Jimmy Kimmel.
Not everyone dissed Fergie’s performance. On Twitter, Shaquille O’Neal called it “different” and “sexy" and, during the halftime break, Charles Barkley joked that he “needed a cigarette” after hearing her sing.