Brett Young roasted for rendition of U.S. anthem at NHL All-Star Game

Brett Young’s version of The Star-Spangled Banner did not go over well. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Brett Young’s version of The Star-Spangled Banner did not go over well. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Singing the national anthem at a major sporting event can be a pretty thankless task.

Do it well and people applaud, sit down, and turn their attention to the action at hand. But if you slip up, drag it on a little too long, or try to do too much, you better believe you’re going to hear about it.

Country star Brett Young falls into the latter category following his downtempo rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner at the 2018 NHL All-Star Game.

(Skip to 2:10 for the U.S. anthem)

Yikes, tough crowd. This might be the worst reception an anthem singer has received at a major sporting event since Staind frontman Aaron Lewis forgot the words before Game 5 of the 2014 World Series, or maybe even Steven Tyler’s ear-piercing rendition before the 2011 AFC Championship game. (Or Nelly Furtado at the 2016 NBA All-Star Game for the Canadian readers).

As for the complaints about Young’s plodding pace, it was actually right on par with the average length of the U.S. anthem. Young finished the song in about 1:50, well below Alicia Keys’ 2:36 epic at the 2013 Super Bowl, and even 10 seconds less than the over-under for this year’s Super Bowl.

If anything, this just serves as a reminder that The Star-Spangled Banner should always be played on saxophone.