She performed live in front of a television audience of millions week in and week out on Season 10 of “American Idol,” but at the Detroit Lions/Green Bay Packers game on Thanksgiving, Lauren Alaina’s nerves got the best of her as she flubbed the National Anthem.
Unlike Christina Aguilera, who, at last year’s Super Bowl actually sang the wrong lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner,” but kept singing, on Thursday, Lauren completely went silent for about five seconds in the middle of the song.
“What so proudly we hailed, through the twi…” she trailed off into silence.
Brian Baumgartner, who plays Kevin Malone on NBC comedy “The Office,” was one of the many fans who caught Lauren’s singing snafu and Tweeted about it, quickly propelling her name into a top 10 Twitter trending topic.
“Oh Lauren Alaina… Poor you. Poor poor you….” he wrote.
Lauren was able to jump back in on the line, “Whose broad stripes and bright stars…” and, with a smile on her face, finished to the delight of the patrons in the sold-out stadium, who cheered loudly.
FOX’s Joe Buck, the TV announcer for the game, summed it up best, saying, “It’s all about how you finish.”
On Thursday afternoon, Lauren took ownership for her flub in response to a Tweet of encouragement from fellow “Idol” alum, Kellie Pickler.
“HEY DOLL! YOU HANDLED YOURSELF LIKE A PRO! SEND THE BULLIES MY WAY & I’LL TELL EM’ WHERE TO GO,” Kellie Tweeted.
“thank you so much,” Lauren responded. “I’m not a robot. I have No excuses. I messed up. You know what can ya do. At Least didn’t fall down again.”
“Thank you everyone for the kind words,” she added a little later. “But the truth is I messed up. I’m gonna spend the rest of the day being thankful for all my blessings.”
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