Canadian popstar Alessia Cara was booed by Canada football fans after appearing to forget the words of her own country's national anthem. Cara was selected to sing 'O Canada' in French ahead of the friendly match vs Peru on Saturday.
During the first part of the song, she appears to hesitate before continuing, drawing some confused looks from members of the lined-up Canadian squad. Later, she appears to completely fumble the lyrics before nervously laughing and saying something into the microphone.
Fans React With Boos and Criticism
The incident caused instant boos from fans inside the stadium. But the stadium soundman was quickly on hand to start the instrumental version of the song, with fans and players joining in.
At the end of the instrumental, Cara can still be seen standing alone in her spot as fireworks go off in the stadium. The performance drew some criticism from fans watching the match on TV.
"She should get her passport and citizenship stripped," one wrote on social media. "This is a MAJOR FAUX PAS!!! SHAME!"
A second said: "Yeesh we've had some bad renditions of the anthem at Canada Soccer games but this takes the cake. Truly shocking."
"Honestly, embarrassing," a third said. "And the laughing as you're melting down?"
Some Fans Defend the Performance
There was, however, some jumping to her defence, one fan wrote: "It can happen. Stress can be a big factor sometimes. At the end, the whole stadium started chanting the anthem, it was beautiful."
It's not the first time that Cara has performed before a Canada game. The popstar performed during the opening ceremony of the World Cup ahead of the host nation's opening game vs Bosnia and Herzegovina back in June.
After that performance, she took to social media sharing pictures on her Instagram, and writing: "WORLD CUPPPPP!!! What a dream with a dream team. Thank you @fifa @canadasoccer GO CANADA. Thank you my gorg glam squad. Thank you music team and all the beautiful dancers / performers who joined me on stage. (At least one Italian made it to the world cup this year."
She is yet to post anything on social media about her latest performance. The match did end in a positive for Jesse Marsch's side, with a brace from Jacob Shaffelburg giving them a 2-0 win over Peru.
