Singer Nezza has revealed she sang the American national anthem in Spanish against 'orders' before the MLB fixture between Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants on Saturday.
The 30-year-old, who is also a social media personality, uploaded a video to her TikTok page showing how an unidentified Dodgers official told her to sing 'The Star Spangled Banner' in English.
The official can be heard saying: "We are going to do the song in English today, so I'm not sure if that wasn't relayed."
But Nezza - full name Vanessa Hernandez - decided regardless to perform 'El Pendon Estrellado', the official Spanish-language version of the national anthem.
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The reason behind her decision was as a protest against the US administration's immigration raids in Los Angeles.
President Donald Trump deployed National Guard troops to deal with initial unrest in the city - which many felt unnecessary - resulting in further protests and violence.
LA Mayor Karen Bass wrote on social media that she was forced to install a nighttime curfew over around one square mile of the city to 'stop bad actors who are taking advantage of the President's chaotic escalation'.
A judge later deemed Trump's actions to be 'illegal', and demanded that he handed control of the Californian National Guard back to the state's governor, Gavin Newsom.
Explaining her reasoning behind singing the Spanish-language anthem, Nezza stated in another TikTok video: "Today out of all days, I just could not believe when she [the employee] walked in and told me, 'No'. But I just felt like I needed to do it. Para mi gente."
Los Angeles is home to over 1.6 million Spanish-speaking people, with the Dodgers being one of the most diverse teams in the MLB.
Active roster players are from predominantly Spanish-speaking countries such as Mexico, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Spain itself.
Dodgers outfielder Kike Hernandez, who was born in Puerto Rico, slammed President Trump on social media over his actions.
He wrote: "I cannot stand to see our community being violated, profiled, abused and ripped apart. ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and human rights."
Topics: Baseball, Donald Trump, United States
Ryan Smart