FOX: Before the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions kicked off the NFL’s three-game Thanksgiving Day slate, Aretha Franklin delivered a stunning rendition of the national anthem.
Franklin’s soulful, four-minute, 35-second performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” brought the house down at Detroit’s Ford Field and quickly went viral.
Before Aretha Franklin sang the National Anthem
After Aretha Franklin sang the National Anthem pic.twitter.com/EaMF1CctzB— shauna (@goldengateblond) November 24, 2016
For reference, the average length of the last ten Super Bowl national anthems has been just under two minutes.
The social media reaction to Franklin was overwhelmingly positive, although many people poked fun at her rendition’s enormous length:
Kaepernick would've developed arthritis in his knee for kneeling so long if the 49ers were playing while Aretha Franklin sang the anthem
— Brock (@BrockOgami) November 24, 2016
she sang for the pope….,it was a HORRIBLE PERFORMANCE…. no one knew what the hell song it was …. even the pope, it went on… & on & on…
She lost me at “Oh, shay can you see…”
This was a PR stunt put on by the NFL because their viewership is way down. Notice in the video how they focus on the teary-eyed players. Pffft. The NFL made their Kaepernick bed…they should be made to lie in it forever.
Had a feeling after the twenty second musical intro that it was going to be a disaster. That was confirmed before she finished oh say can you see.
This is a train wreck of immense proportion. Very tired of performers trying to make the anthem ‘theirs’.
Sing The song the way it was intended to be sung, at the correct tempo, and GET THE F%## OUT OF THERE!!’ THEY ARE NOT AT A GAME TO HEAR THE ANTHEM SINGER!!!
I am typing while listening to this ‘performance’. At the end now. It devolved into Hillary like screeching.
Don’t care who she is or what she has done this was Awful. Not Roseanne Barr awful but awful nonetheless.
That was awful.
Save it for the half-time show, Aretha.
Hey zuyixulev @ maileme101-bot. Go fuck yourself.
Urethra Franklin was okay in the 60s. Now, not so much.
I hate this musical affectation of hitting 20 notes surrounding the appropriate one and calling it “singing.” Sounds more like cats fighting.
Stunning performance? Stunningly horrible! Maybe the worst I have heard since Rosie O’Donnell butchered it.
Watched about 50 seconds of it.
Not feeling it.
Not pandering to it just to please the Politically Correct Old Black Female Performer Club either.
Hey, at least Aretha didn’t grab her crotch after singing the Natl. Anthem like Rosie O did. Or was it Roseanne Barr, all I know it was one of those 2 skaggs.
Just observing: More black Americans singing the National Anthem these days
Still love Whitney’s version
I had just put the turkey in the oven when she started and when I woke up from a three hour nap after eating all that Thanksgiving food she was done.
Ha! went to the link and couldn’t watch it because it has NFL content and is blocked! is the NFL really worried about it’s viewership? why block a stupid video because you can see a few players, unless as I may assume it was such a bad performance they are ashamed to let people see it? I’ve joined the NEVERNFL movement.
Of course she’s seen better days but overall I’d say pretty good for a 74-year old.
She seems to missing her teeth! I first noticed at about 3:30 and later. The multi-millionaire can’t afford teeth?
Her awful rendition lasted longer than Johnnie Manziel’s whole football career.
But, but.. we all know that “haunted, howling R&B” is great, right? Right?
Not even going to try listening to it lol.. Thank God for the DVR (and fast fwd) is all I can say!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHgTDb_QH98 Little Girls just kicking it Texas style.
The National Anthem should be sung with some verve. Not that howling, screeching, Godawful crap. I never heard of her before this. Where do the NFL find these fools?
youtube Irishman Ronan Tynon sings National Anthem, the right way.
Aretha may have made some great recordings, but this version of our National Anthem, won’t be memorable.