Canadian national anthem singer fires shot at Donald Trump with controversial lyric change ahead of USA game
The singer who performed the Canadian national anthem prior to the Four Nations Face-Off has broken her silence after changing a lyric in a dig at United States president Donald Trump.
The inaugural mid-season hockey tournament saw Canada, the US, Finland and Sweden lock horns in a tournament dominated by political tensions.
Canada were the victors, beating their neighbours in the final at the TD Garden Arena courtesy of an overtime goal from Connor McDavid to make it 3-2.
The US national anthem was booed at sports events in Canada in recent times, including both games in Montreal.
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But too was 'O Canada', sung by Chantal Kreviazuk ahead of Thursday's final in Boston.
The 50-year-old, from Winnipeg performed the anthem and loud jeers were audible despite the announcer asking for respect over the tannoy.
Kreviazuk, a Grammy-award winning singer changed the lyrics, to "that only us command" instead of "in all of us command" in a dig at Trump after he talked about making Canada the "51st state" and threatened increasing tariffs on imported goods from the neighboring country as part of “economic force".
On his Truth Social account, Trump said he would engage in a phone call with the US team in a bid to "spur them on towards victory"
Some wondered whether Kreviazuk made a mistake with the lyrics she sang but on Instagram, she confirmed it was very much intentional.
Sharing a snap of the amended lyrics, she wrote: "During soundcheck I sang the wrong words 'in all thy sons command' out of habit and when I analyzed the new line I thought wow - this could mean something so pertinent to our country in this moment with a change in just two words, three syllables. I didn’t dream that such an effect would be had by deciding to go out there and do it. But it really felt like the right thing to do.
"Here is the thing. At to me is an expression of our truth. The anthem is not a lawful document. It is an expression of the collective, and it changes from time to time when the moment demands it should. So yes. in this very peculiar and potentially consequential moment I truly believe that we must stand up, use our voices and try to protect ourselves… "No - we should express our outrage in the face of any abuses of power. i was raised in part by music that was inspired by brave voices committed to peaceful conflict resolution.
Canada , not unlike Ukraine is a sovereign nation. period. we have a culture individual to others. we are united in our values. we care. we’re kind. We are strong."
The anthem was played for a second time after Canada's win but most American fans had exited.
After he and his country were persistently mocked by Trump, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to X to react to Canada's big win - commenting: "You can't take our country — and you can't take our game."
Topics: US Sports
Josh Lawless