Where Was the Online Hate Four Weeks Ago When Canadian Singer Botched National Anthem?

Jun 13, 2013
9:03 AM

Four weeks ago at a 2013 Memorial Cup hockey game in Saskatoon, Canadian jazz singer Alexis Normand botched the U.S. national anthem. Like really botched it. Watch.

Normand admitted that she goofed and didn’t have time to learn the lyrics, so she was given a second chance to sing the anthem again at a later game.

The online reaction to Normand’s rendition was tame.

Canada

Deadspin added a little humor (or is it humour?) to Normand’s gaffe, but the story died with little attention, even though the video went viral:

This is every American’s nightmare. In Canada, though, the crowd is less than surprised. They can’t really sing it, either, to help our absent-minded performer — hell, it’s kind of a tough song. She is left to improvise, and “A Star-Mangled Banner” is born. Land of the free, home of the brave, play hockey.

Normand’s story was in stark contrast to the online reaction that 11-year-old Sebastien de la Cruz got after hitting the anthem out of the park (and yeah, getting the words right) Wednesday night at the NBA Finals in San Antonio. The racist tweets that went viral was one of this week’s hottest social media stories.

So let’s get this straight. de la Cruz sings this…

But then gets tweets like these…

mexicankid

mexican4

mexican2

Yet when a Canadian who isn’t even a U.S. citizen botches the national anthem and the video goes viral on the Internet, the reaction is “meh.” Yeah, our bad, we are just overreacting to this all.

Sad.