A famous pop star from California named Conan Gray was accused of ruining the National Anthem before the Home Run Derby in Los Angeles.
Gray, an up and coming pop-star with a significant social media following, was invited to open the Derby by singing the Star-Spangled Banner.
The well known singer stepped up to the plate and began what many described as being one of the most tone deaf performances of the National Anthem ever heard.
better audio quality of conan gray singing the national anthem pic.twitter.com/ZJUnoGuI3u
— dirt is so mfkin dirty! (@D4RKCONAN) July 19, 2022
One twitter user blasted the young performer, saying “I have no idea who Conan Gray is, but he just missed literally every note of the Star Spangled Banner.”
I have no idea who Conan Gray is, but he just missed literally every note of the Star Spangled Banner.
— Les Is More (@LMM1062) July 19, 2022
Another user pointed the blame more at the event organizer for choosing the wrong singer for the song, posting, “i just wanna know who tf looked at conan gray and said “oh yeah he’s perfect to sing the national anthem.”
i just wanna know who tf looked at conan gray and said “oh yeah he’s perfect to sing the national anthem” pic.twitter.com/bO0G81Ig3Y
— suri🫶🏻isn’t a conan hater (@lyinsummerchild) July 19, 2022
Despite the criticism of Conan Gray’s rendition of the anthem, other users took the opportunity to bring up another famous pop star Fergie’s version of the son.
A user who posted the well-known version of the anthem said, “no cause NO ONE will ever sing the national anthem worse than fergie.”
no cause NO ONE will ever sing the national anthem worse than fergie pic.twitter.com/tBmvbThNWG
— y I 7 DAYS UNTIL RINA'S COMING HOME (@yousdayaa) July 19, 2022
@Kenny Thee Oracle chimed in as well, agreeing with the first user and adding a funny video clip from the TV series “The Boys”. Kenny wrote, “Fergie watching people call Conan Gray’s performance the worst national anthem rendition.”
Fergie watching people call Conan Gray’s performance the worst national anthem rendition pic.twitter.com/Bps8Eb03yb
— Kenny Thee Oracle (@KennyTheeOracle) July 19, 2022
Kassy Dilly compared the performance by Conan Gray to the Palestinian National Authority’s performance to President Joe Biden when he visited just last weel.
Just the Palestinian Authority's honor guard completely butchering the American National Anthem… pic.twitter.com/dfcJjMj8Ff
— Kassy Dillon (@KassyDillon) July 15, 2022
Despite the criticism of Gray, many users used the trend to defend the singer.
One said that the song simply “is just not good for his voice”, adding “I promise conan can sing.”
i’m so worried everyone is gonna see the national anthem video and think he’s a terrible singer. the song is just not good for his voice, i promise conan gray can sing😭
— suri🫶🏻isn’t a conan hater (@lyinsummerchild) July 19, 2022
Another said that the reason they chose Conan to perform the Anthem was to stoke the “toxic masculinity boys” on Twitter who they knew would get upset.
WHO LET CONAN GRAY PERFORM THE NATIONAL ANTHEM. WE KNEW ALL THE TOXIC MASCULINITY BOYS WERE GONNA DRAG HIM
— soph ⚡️ (@Sophiab252) July 19, 2022
Here is one of the artist’s own posts of his original song so you can decide for yourself.
“Yours”. The next song off Superache. Out midnight ET in two days, May 19th. See u then🌹https://t.co/6KXJKsRUJY pic.twitter.com/HoQJ11N0uf
— conan gray (@conangray) May 16, 2022
So what do you think of Conan Gray’s Anthem-gate? Is it his fault that it went so poorly or was he just the wrong voice for the song?