Fergie fires back over criticism of her 'sexy' rendition of the national anthem

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By VT

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This weekend, former Black Eyed Peas frontwoman Fergie came under fire for her questionable performance of the Star Spangled Banner at the NBA All-Star game. The 42-year-old singer apparently decided to take a sort of jazzy spin on the traditional anthem - but her "sexy" version didn't go down that well.

In fact, during her performance, both players and audience members could be seen stifling laughs and smiles as the Glamorous musician failed to hit a number of notes, and thousands of people left comments online slating her for making such an odd choice with the song.

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/cameronngregory/status/965788199976165378]]

Many fans compared her performance to that of Mariah Carey's dreadful Christmas routine a couple of years back, and others just straight-up ripped into her for not holding her own as a singer.

"Fergie singing the star spangled banner should inspire us all to be better," said one person on Twitter.

"The Star-Spangled Banner is in 3/4 time. If your name is not Whitney Houston, and your name is not Whitney Houston, you should sing it in 3/4 time. This was Fergie's first mistake," wrote another.

After an onslaught of online hate, a source close to the singer said that "neither Fergie nor her team thought anything was wrong with her National Anthem rendition," adding, "That’s the way she sings a lot of her songs. She loves adding a little sexiness and being different with her riffs. It was meant to be jazz-inspired. She wanted to stand out."

However, after enduring more than 24 hours of non-stop criticism, Fergie herself decided to speak out.

[[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMA2iF6RuXk&feature=youtu.be]]

In a statement to TMZ, the singer said:

"I've always been honored and proud to perform the national anthem and last night I wanted to try something special for the NBA. 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."

Unfortunately, her words don't seem to have made much of a difference, as she's still getting shredded on social media.

"Fergie apologizes for her rendition of The National Anthem," wrote one Twitter user. "She wanted to try something different. I suggest that in the future she tries something different in the shower or her car like the rest of us. Thanks."

"Fergie singing the national anthem sounds like Phoebe Buffay singing ‘Stinky Shoes’," said another.

But other people - including a few celebrities - jumped to her defense.

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/wizkhalifa/status/965730069036478464]]

While it's great to see artists taking "risks" and trying out "something special", someone probably should have told Fergie that she couldn't quite carry a tune in certain parts of the anthem before letting her go ahead and perform it in front of millions.

Of course, she wasn't the only person to come under fire for her performance of the Star Spangled Banner recently. During the Super Bowl, P!nk attracted a fair amount of unwanted attention when she sang the anthem while suffering from the flu - and made an odd choice on stage before starting the performance...

 

Fergie fires back over criticism of her 'sexy' rendition of the national anthem

vt-author-image

By VT

Article saved!Article saved!

This weekend, former Black Eyed Peas frontwoman Fergie came under fire for her questionable performance of the Star Spangled Banner at the NBA All-Star game. The 42-year-old singer apparently decided to take a sort of jazzy spin on the traditional anthem - but her "sexy" version didn't go down that well.

In fact, during her performance, both players and audience members could be seen stifling laughs and smiles as the Glamorous musician failed to hit a number of notes, and thousands of people left comments online slating her for making such an odd choice with the song.

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/cameronngregory/status/965788199976165378]]

Many fans compared her performance to that of Mariah Carey's dreadful Christmas routine a couple of years back, and others just straight-up ripped into her for not holding her own as a singer.

"Fergie singing the star spangled banner should inspire us all to be better," said one person on Twitter.

"The Star-Spangled Banner is in 3/4 time. If your name is not Whitney Houston, and your name is not Whitney Houston, you should sing it in 3/4 time. This was Fergie's first mistake," wrote another.

After an onslaught of online hate, a source close to the singer said that "neither Fergie nor her team thought anything was wrong with her National Anthem rendition," adding, "That’s the way she sings a lot of her songs. She loves adding a little sexiness and being different with her riffs. It was meant to be jazz-inspired. She wanted to stand out."

However, after enduring more than 24 hours of non-stop criticism, Fergie herself decided to speak out.

[[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMA2iF6RuXk&feature=youtu.be]]

In a statement to TMZ, the singer said:

"I've always been honored and proud to perform the national anthem and last night I wanted to try something special for the NBA. 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."

Unfortunately, her words don't seem to have made much of a difference, as she's still getting shredded on social media.

"Fergie apologizes for her rendition of The National Anthem," wrote one Twitter user. "She wanted to try something different. I suggest that in the future she tries something different in the shower or her car like the rest of us. Thanks."

"Fergie singing the national anthem sounds like Phoebe Buffay singing ‘Stinky Shoes’," said another.

But other people - including a few celebrities - jumped to her defense.

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/wizkhalifa/status/965730069036478464]]

While it's great to see artists taking "risks" and trying out "something special", someone probably should have told Fergie that she couldn't quite carry a tune in certain parts of the anthem before letting her go ahead and perform it in front of millions.

Of course, she wasn't the only person to come under fire for her performance of the Star Spangled Banner recently. During the Super Bowl, P!nk attracted a fair amount of unwanted attention when she sang the anthem while suffering from the flu - and made an odd choice on stage before starting the performance...