Every year the best of the best come together to grace our television screens in the NBA All-Star Game. Fans gather, bets are placed, adrenaline is rushing, and stakes are high - and this year was no different. Usually, before the game begins, the Star-Spangled Banner is sung to kick off the event. And this year, the lucky lady to take on the mic was Grammy-award winner Macy Gray. The 54-year-old singer sang her heart out... and Twitter had a lot to say about it.
Let's give you a little background for those who don't know what the NBA All-Star Game is. The NBA All-Star Game is a three-day event, played by a mix of players from the league, with each team holding 12 players. The 24 total players are chosen by current NBA players (25%), media (25%), and the other 50% are selected by who fans want to see their favorites go head to head. The game's goal is to win (duh), but the players are also playing for $100,000 per quarter - with each winning proceed to go to the charity of the winner's choice. This year, we saw Team Lebron (for the fifth year in a year) versus Team Durant, with Lebron's team taking the win.
So why is Twitter losing it? Well, following Gray's performance, the internet did its thing yet again - pointing out what they think went wrong during the rendition, the player's reactions, and comparing it to Fergie's All-Star performance a few years back. One user kicked off the thread with, "When I tell you I came RUNNING to Twitter after that Macy Gray National anthem." Another wrote, "I am respectfully concerned for Macy Gray #NBAAllStar." The superstar singer took to her Instagram before the half-time show, writing, "Wish me luck I'm nervous AF! Thx for having me @NBA." However, clips of a shocked Bill Murray surfaced the web while LeBron was seen trying to keep it cool and hide a smirk. Twitter caught him, with users tweeting, "LeBron was trying his hardest not to laugh while Macy Gray was singing national anthem…."
Why LeBron laugh at Macy Gray during the national anthem 😭 pic.twitter.com/XWonz6tiV1
— Quinton Mayo (@RealQuintonMayo) February 21, 2022
Of course, though, users all over are defending the performance as well, noting how it was a "beautiful rendition and her own interpretation." The moral of the story - keep it together during the National Anthem, or else Twitter will find you!
