One Of The Tenors Is In Trouble After He Changed The Lyrics To The Canadian National Anthem

Many people mess up the words to national anthems all the time. Usually the mess ups are the result of the singer forgetting the lyrics, or not being able to hit that high note on “freeeee” at the end of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” But yesterday, a member of the Canadian group The Tenors messed up the Canadian national anthem on purpose, and not surprisingly, its gotten him in maple-scented trouble.

According to UsWeekly, it happened at the MLB All-Star Game in San Diego yesterday. The Tenors – aka the group I’m sure some of you have caught your mom listening to in the dark with a glass of wine – were chosen to sing the Canadian national anthem, “O Canada.” Rather than sing it as it was written, Tenor Remigio Pereira decided to add his own personal spin by singing some re-written lyrics with an #AllLivesMatter message. He really thought that would be a good idea.

He was supposed to sing the lyrics: “With glowing hearts we see thee rise, the True North strong and free.” Instead, he chose to sing: “We’re all brothers and sisters, all lives matter to the great.” He also held up a sign during his cringeworthy solo that said “ALL LIVES MATTER” on one side, and “UNITED WE STAND” on the other. Here’s a clip of that:

I’m sure I’ll be outraged just as soon as I figure out what “all lives matter to the great” means. The great who? Wayne Gretzky?

The Tenor’s performance of the Canadian national anthem didn’t air on American stations; only Rachel Platten’s performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” did. But Remigio’s #AllLivesMatter version of “O Canada” did air on Canadian stations, and Canadians took to Twitter to tweet about how pissed they were. They were so pissed, many didn’t even preface their angry tweets with a “Sorry” first. Not long after Canada grabbed their snow shovels (we have no use for pitchforks up here), the other three Tenors tweeted an apology. It also sounds like Remigio won’t be tenoring any time soon.

Remigio Pereira is from Canada’s capital, Ottawa, a city in which I believe people answer the phones by singing the national anthem. He should know better than anyone that there are only two acceptable alternatives to “O Canada“: the French version we all pretended to know how to sing in school, and the hot harmony-filled version as sung by The Nylons.

Unless you’re French, or wearing an oversized pastel pink suit, you stick to the original.