Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth was slammed by NBA fans for her performance of the national anthem before Game 7 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers.
Chenoweth, an Oklahoma native and passionate Thunder fan, took center stage live on ABC in the moments before tip off at the first Game 7 in the finals for nine years.
But her rendition of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’, in which she delivered one particularly long high note, did not go down well.
It was described by one ABC viewer on social media as ‘the worst national anthem I ever heard’.
Another viewer posted: ‘Geeze these national anthem singers are getting worse every time’.
A third commented: ‘I just witnessed another trashing of a national anthem.’
Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth was slammed by NBA fans for her national anthem
Other fans described it as ‘horrible’ and ‘rough’.
Referring to the high note Chenoweth hit, one brutal fan posted: ‘The end of that anthem made my dog uncomfortable’.
Chenoweth’s Thunder fandom has been no secret since the franchise’s early years, though she also has professed at times to liking the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks as well.
That said, the Thunder are clearly her top choice – so much so that she once told the Tulsa World she spent three hours bedazzling a Thunder hat.
She went to Oklahoma City University after growing up in Broken Arrow, about 115 miles northeast of where the Thunder play. And her 8-year-old dog’s name is Thunder. She even dressed the pup up once in a Thunder outfit.
‘I never miss a game unless I’m on stage,’ Chenoweth said. ‘I was a cheerleader in high school in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and I loved football, but my favorite was basketball.
‘I like how much of a team player you’ve got to be and this is my team.’
Chenoweth has sung the anthem at a few Thunder games in the past, sometimes alone and at least once with children from her Chenoweth Broadway Bootcamp.
The Thunder and Pacers took to the court for the first NBA Finals Game 7 for nine years
That camp is part of the arts and education fund that she founded to cultivate ‘young artistic expression by enriching children´s lives through the power of education, entertainment and experience.’
Chenoweth won a Tony Award in 1999 for best leading actress in a musical for her role in ‘You´re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.’
She received two other Tony nominations for best leading actress in a musical, one in 2004 for playing Glinda in ‘Wicked’ – she lost to co-star Idina Menzel – and the other in 2015 for playing 1930s Hollywood diva Lily Garland in ‘On the Twentieth Century.’
And in 2009, she won an Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy series for her work on ABC’s ‘Pushing Daisies.’ She returns to Broadway this fall, playing Jackie Siegel in ‘The Queen of Versailles.’
