Fergie has officially stolen the title of the most controversial national anthem performance from sitcom queen Roseanne Barr.
On Sunday night, A-list celebrities sat courtside at the annual NBA All-Star game, which kicked off with a unique performance by Fergie.
The former Black Eyed Peas singer opened the game with a non-traditional, sexier version of "The Star-Spangled Banner," causing confusion and harsh criticism from viewers.
But someone who could relate to Fergie's national anthem shame was Barr. The actress performed her own highly criticized version of the song at a 1990 Padres game. Barr’s off-key performance was so bad, President George H. W. Bush called it “disgraceful."
But despite her past pitchy performance, Barr joked on Twitter that Fergie's was much worse.
“Who saw Fergie’s national anthem performance at the NBA All-Star Game?” Barr tweeted late Sunday night. “I think mine was better lowkey [sic].”
The "Roseanne" star explained what happened during her awkward performance in a 2015 interview with The Washington Post.
“I started too high. I knew about six notes in that I couldn’t hit the big note," she admitted. "So I just tried to get through it, but I couldn’t hear anything with 50,000 drunk a--- booing, screaming ‘you fat f---,’ giving me the finger and throwing bottles at me during the song they ‘respect’ so much.”
Since Fergie's now infamous rendition went viral, instead of people booing and screaming at her in person, they have sounded off on social media and online. Other celebrities such as Khloe Kardashian and former NBA star Charles Barkley shared their opinions on the controversial performance.
Kardashian tweeted, "This All-Star opening is confusing me. WTF is going on? Anyone?"
During the show's commentary, Barkley asked his fellow commentators what they thought of the song.
And while Shaquille O'Neal defended the 42-year-old singer and said, "Oh, stop, don’t do that. Leave my Fergie alone. Fergie, I love you. It was different, it was sexy.”
Barkley disagreed joking that he "needed a cigarette" after the performance.
TooShiftyForYou on February 19th, 2018 at 22:08 UTC »
“I’ve always been honored and proud to perform the national anthem, and last night, I wanted to try something special for the NBA,” the Black Eyed Peas singer told TMZ, the day after her odd rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the NBA All-Star Game was widely panned. “I’m a risk taker artistically, but clearly this rendition didn’t strike the intended tone. I love this country and honestly tried my best.”
You know your anthem performance sucks when you gotta give apologies to TMZ the next day.
Spankipants on February 19th, 2018 at 21:55 UTC »
I read a comment from an earlier post noting that Fergie must have rehearsed this in advance in front of people she trusts and seemingly none of them told her that she sounded ridiculous... That actually made me sad.
WereKatScratch on February 19th, 2018 at 21:18 UTC »
Oh Fergie, why would you do this?