There was booing of O Canada, but perhaps not for the reason Canadians thought.
Even most Canadians who loath the idea of disrespecting a national anthem were surrendering to the notion that perhaps this time the booing was justified.
At least of the singer.
“That was the absolute worst butchering of the Canadian National Anthem I have ever heard,” X poster Khadija wrote. “French mispronounced, wrong English words all together. It was such absolute trash I’m convinced it was deliberate.”
She was talking about Chantal Kreviazuk, who took the ice Thursday at TD Garden in Boston to lead the country into the final matchup between Canada and the U.S. in the 4 Nations Face-Off.
And this was not the only post like that. Seems the booing was not just for political reasons, but for a poor performance by the award-winning Winnipeg singer who didn’t seem to know the words, the tune and even find herself in key.
As one fan noted, Roseanne Barr, famous for her U.S. anthem nightmare, perhaps would have done better.
But apparently there was more to this than just a brutal performance. The CBC reported a representative confirmed a lyrical switch from “in all of us command” to “that only us command,” which was “intentional in response to the annexation rhetoric coming from the U.S.”
In response to one X post saying the changing of the words was patriotic, Kreviazuk tweeted strong arm and Canadian flag emojis.
And some debate broke out as this effort was more understood.
But most Canadians didn’t seem to get it or appreciate what she tried to do. It’s never a good idea to mess with the lyrics of O Canada — even if it feels good to try to make a point.
For most Canadians — so far at least — this was just an ugly performance of O Canada.
“Chantal Kreviazuk just massacred our national anthem,” said the account Sharon Tate Forever. “Booing would have been less insulting.
“Chantal Kreviazuk should be embarrassed and owes the country an apology,” posted Bruce R. Rogers.
Perhaps the good news, according to Collin Rugg, is “the boos were so loud that it was hard to hear the anthem at some points.”
Maybe this was bad news for the country U.S. President Donald J. Trump keeps referring to as America’s 51st state. Maybe along with losing our sovereignty we may just lose our anthem, too, if it continues to be sung like that.
The outcome of the game is important and could be legendary. But the score in the stands amongst the fans is important, too. And the booing aside, the atmosphere in Boston was electric as it was Saturday in Montreal. Both teams on the ice were pumped up and the same goes for their fans.
While there is all of this political turmoil swirling around this event, there is no question that the 4 Nations Face-Off has been great for hockey. It’s clear there is parity amongst Canada and the U.S. now, which results in amazing hockey games.
There is no question the booing of the anthems is not something hockey fans would normally do. But when the U.S. president keeps trolling our country, threatening our nationhood and calling the prime minister ‘governor,’ there is going to be animosity toward it.
Trump pulled one of the most provocative moves of all by phoning Team USA in their dressing room after the morning skate to try to fire them up.
Trudeau got into it as well with his tweets – including one Saturday saying how “damned proud” he was of Canada and one with a video of him at a game with the words “playing for keeps.” And playing for keeps is something the players certainly did. The action in this game was frantic. Both teams were fired up and tried to put on a show. It was like war.
There is great debate about how Canada should handle the tariff and trade war with Trump. But there doesn’t seem to be much debate on how this anthem was performed by Kreviazuk.
Luckily many couldn’t hear it through the booing.