As I've said time and time again with increasing enthusiasm, "The Star Spangled Banner" is a terrible song. No one with well-studied musical taste would ever willingly listen to or perform the track without completely rebuilding the song from the ground up, i.e. kinda how Fergie did at the NBA All-Star Game this weekend.
Fergie's take on "Spangled" was met with every possible reaction, including one from Jimmy Kimmel, who looked like he was about to burst into laughter during the performance.
"So I was at the game with my son Kevin, and somehow I became part of a national anthem fiasco," Kimmel told his audience Tuesday night. "Did you see this? Fergie, the singer from the Black Eyed Peas, gave an unusually sultry version of our national anthem, and somehow, I wound up in the middle of it." He then played a clip of his reaction before offering up an explanation laced with sarcasm.
"Now, hold on, I just wanna say the reason I was smiling is because I love the national anthem so much," Kimmel said. "That was some arrangement thought. In hindsight, trying to work in the words 'my humps, my humps, my lovely lady lumps' may have been a mistake. I didn't realize I was on camera, then my phone started just buzzing and I was like, 'Oh, I think I might have been on camera.'"
As for Fergie's subsequent "risk taker" apology, Kimmel said it wasn't necessary. "She apologized, which she didn't need to do," he said. "It sounded like she was intentionally trying to ruin the song."
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