Singer deliberately substitutes words to the National Anthem in Denver ...  

Oh, this makes me way beyond angry. I am fuming right now!

If she was supposed to sing the national anthem, if that is what was appropriate and expected of her, she had ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT, artistic or otherwise, do do whatever the heck she felt like.

I am not prejudiced. I am not racist. I am not biased.

But it's crap like this that cause even folks like myself to get absolutely livid, and when we react, we're told that we have no tolerance. I say bullcrap!

If people continue to do stupid stunts like this, how can they expect to be treated equally? They are drawing attention to themselves and of course people are going to reach to what they're doing. And then we get fussed at for it.

Stupid, just stupid. I need to shut up and walk away from this computer for a minute ...

whooooooooooooooooo

She didn't intend to make it a political statement, my foot! And since when is singing the
National Anthem an "artistic expression." She could have sang anything to the tune to express
her artistic expression. This is an affront the patriotism of the people who attended that
event. It just goes to show how far the roots of racism have dug into American soil.

I think she's probably very lucky that she did it in front of a small crowd and not at some large sporting event. Look what happened to Roseanne.. she got all the words right she just sang it badly and she got booed off the field, hate mail and even death threats!

It would have been much more appropriate if she had informed the Mayor that she wanted to ad lib. Then given him the opportunity to say ok or hire someone else. After all it was his gig.

The excuse of an artist asking permission to express themselves artistically.... that's a load of horse hockey if I ever heard it. I'm a professional singer and it would never have entered my mind to be that disrespectful to our National Anthem. She was making a political statement not an artistic statement. But I doubt she will be making that kind of statement again anytime soon. She'll never get hired again to sing the National Anthem at a public event. I hope it was worth it to her.

Hello LadyLuna,

In answer to your first question I have to say it was definitely overstepping her bounds although it absolutely doesn't surprise me! And yes, she should have given the Denver City Council a "heads-up" on her intentions but then she would have left herself wide open for be asked not to sing it that way or not to sing at all! Something I learned from my wife a long time ago and that is; it's easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission! That way you get to do what you wanted to do, right or wrong and have options afterward!

As far as what should have been done, I'm not really sure what I would have done in this situation. It's hard to really say until you are put into the actual situation itself. Kind of like saying you would have voted against something about 4 years after the fact(pun intended)

Good grief what would have been so hard about finding someone who would sing the real National Anthem. You cannot convience me that all of the people that actually know how to sign the real National Anthem were busy. I found out that Mayor John Hickenlooper was not even wearing a sports coat and tie. My husband never goes anywhere important without wearing a sports coat and tie. Not that hard to find one, ever heard of a men clothing store, I am sure Denver has one. If not then I am sure you could have found an online store than sold sports coats and ties. That is just me, something called dignity for the office.
To your question;
Yeah I think the signer stept over the line. You were there to sign the real National Anthem not the black National Anthem. Even if you hate this country if you are to do something you are supposed to do it.
If she wanted to sign this new National Anthem, the black National Anthem she should have gotten this opproved first.
If I had been on the Denver City Council I would have reached over and ript the microphone out of her hand.

It seems to me it had absolutely nothing to do with artistic expression but a way to make a racial statement. She was asked and hired to sing a specific song, not to put on a talent show. She overstepped her bounds and got her 5 minutes of fame.

I also can't imagine why there needs to be a "black national anthem". They live in the same country as everyone else after all. I've always thought that if we had the same things geared just for whites...white history month, all white tv station, special all white only colleges...the black community along with all the other different races would throw the biggest titty tantrum you ever saw. We'd be labeled as racists and they'd be wanting to put their foot down about it.

She needs to be fined and banned from performing for those types of functions again.

**AT PEACE WITHIN**

~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~

Yes she stepped over a line. I'm not a racist, against anyone. But the national anthem isn't something that is open to "artistic expression." And as for her saying she wasn't making a political statement.... puhleeeze. Anyone who buys that, contact me, I have a bridge I can sell you.

I always thought of the national anthem to be universal ,to be respect and not a side show circus for someone to push their musical career. Yes, there have been hurtful past here in America of slavery and other antics. Even though there's still tension, we have came long way from racial discrimination.
I find it hard to believe she was sorry and didn't mean any harm. Just my opinion, someone else also plan this with her. Just a thought.

It was a pretty stupid move on her part. What did she think it was? A talent show?

I think that everyone has an agenda and one small thing like singing the national anthem could become a secret weapon in the hands of one with a different agenda. One would think that there is homogeneity in a community to the point that singing a national anthem would mean exactly that, the national anthem and not a different anthem. She obviously wanted to make a splash; and don't tell me about artistic expression, she can have all the artistic expression in her own bathroom and be supremely satisfied. It's just like a guest in a Superman convention taking off her cloak to reveal a Spiderman costume underneath, or some such nonsense. It sounds like a slap in the face and a dare for them to do something about it. The fact that no one did anything about it and she had the center stage to herself meant that everyone was immobilized by the brazenness of her action. I would cut off the juice to her microphone if it were me and let's see how she reacts to that, little artistic missy without volume control to her microphone.