Luke Bryan wants to serve his country by singing the National Anthem, but doesn’t know the words…
“I feel like I can’t go serve my country, I can’t go be a troop and that’s one thing that hurts me about my life is I don’t have time to ever really be a veteran,” Luke Bryan said on Good Morning America. “I kind of feel like that’s the only way I can serve my country is get out and do the anthem.”
At the Major League Baseball All-Star game on Tuesday night, the country music star was caught on camera looking down at the lyrics to the National Anthem. He was called unpatriotic, among many things, for having the words the National Anthem written on his hand while performing. “Luke Bryan’s version of the national anthem @ the All-Star game last night was an epic fail. He needs to learn respect & remember the lyrics!” one person tweeted. Bryan claims that it was “the pressure to be patriotic” that lead him to use his own hand as a National Anthem crib must admire his courage because he performed a song that he doesn’t know the lyrics to in front of the thousands of fans in the stadium and the millions more at home watching the game on T.V. However, how does the 35-year-old American country singer not know the words to the “Star Spangled Banner?”
Besides his statement on “the pressure to be patriotic”, Bryan says his decision to write out the words on his hand also came down to stage fright. “Every artist I’ve talked to in Nashville is like, ‘Oh, the national anthem,’ and you get to where you’re almost scared that you don’t want to do it,” Bryan said. “That stage and being in that moment was certainly one of the biggest moments of my life. I was just really wanting to get it right.”
“What’s funny is when I looked down I didn’t even know what I was looking at,” he said. “I said an apology and I do mean that,” said Bryan, who issued a series of apologetic tweets. “If anybody was offended about my way about it I really was sorry about it.”
“I had a few keys words written down to insure myself that I wouldn’t mess up. I just wanted to do my best. I promise it was from the heart,” Bryan tweeted.
Despite all of the controversy, Luke says he still had a good time out at the All-Star game.
“When I settled in it was one of the most enjoyable, entertaining experiences,” he said. “… Just one of the best moments of my life singing.” All-in-all you have to applaud the man for wanting to serve his country and having the will to lay it all out on-the-line to do so. If that is not patriotism, what is?
Check out the Video of Luke Bryan Singing the National Anthem below:
Source: Katie Kindelan | abc News
