Over Memorial Day weekend, for the second time this year, a major sports organization allowed the singer Jewel to butcher the National Anthem.
Jewel trotted out her guitar and offered a solo acoustic rendition of America’s song at the Indianapolis 500 — just as she did at the NBA All-Star Game in February.
As Fox News noted, “It sounded very much like something that could be on one of her albums.” And that was the point for people angered by it. As one of the critics whose comments were compiled by Fox News noted, “No. Never change the natural rhythm and pace of the National Anthem. Bad idea.”
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But if some conservatives were triggered by Jewel’s squishy, folk-song rendition of America’s muscular anthem, the U.S. Capitol Police silenced a beautiful version of the song by a children’s choir because just singing it may trigger liberals.
As The Blaze reported on Friday, the Rushingbrook Children’s Choir, a Christian choir from South Carolina, paused their tour of the Capitol on May 26 so they could perform some patriotic songs in Statuary Hall. At least three GOP lawmakers had approved the group’s appearance.
“However,” The Blaze reported, “as the choir was about to complete the third verse of the national anthem, a guide suddenly tapped the director on the shoulder and informed him that Capitol police had ordered the kids to stop singing immediately.”
Matthew Leys, an organizer of the event, said Capitol Police silenced the choir because “singing the Anthem could be considered a form of protest.”
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“When you need a permit to sing your National Anthem in your nation’s Capitol, something’s gone wrong,” he added.
South Carolina state Rep. Adam Morgan told local media, “The fact that our National Anthem could ever be considered ‘offensive”’ in our nation’s capital is a stinging reminder of the challenges we face as a republic.”
On Saturday, ABC News reported that Capitol Police blamed the interruption of the choir on a “miscommunication.”
“Although popup demonstrations and musical performances are not allowed in the U.S. Capitol without the proper approval, due to a miscommunication, the U.S. Capitol Police were not aware that the Speaker’s Office had approved this performance,” the agency said in a statement.
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“We apologize to the choir for this miscommunication that impacted their beautiful rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner and their visit to Capitol Hill.”
In their own statement, Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the trio of South Carolina lawmakers who approved the event, Reps. Russell Fry, William Timmons, and Joe Wilson, said, “These children were welcomed by the Speaker’s office to joyfully express their love of this Nation while visiting the Capitol, and we are all very disappointed to learn their celebration was cut short.”
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