During her rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Sunday’s Super Bowl, Christina Aguilera surprised the audience by botching the lyrics. According to the AP, instead of singing, “O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming,” she sang, “What so proudly we watched at the twilight’s last gleaming.”
Although Aguilera has addressed her mistake by saying she was caught up in the moment, there are still people up in arms over the flub. Joan Rivers called the error “stupid” and many are saying it indicates a lack of patriotism.
While fumbling the words to a nationally revered song may seem unforgivable, the mistake went unnoticed for many. And although plenty were offended by the slip-up, Aguilera simply did publicly what millions of Americans do privately all the time: mixed up the words to a lengthy song.
Is her mistake worthy of the attention it’s receiving, or did Aguilera just experience momentary forgetfulness brought on by nerves?