Baseball fans have savaged famous Broadway actress Betsy Wolfe for her rendition of the national anthem before the New York Yankees’ Opening Day game.
Wolfe has previously been nominated for a Tony award but her performance of The Star-Spangled Banner on Thursday was branded ’embarrassing’ and even ‘the worst’ of all time.
Fans spotted that Wolfe appeared to be looking at her phone mid-performance, prompting some to accuse her of needing to read the lyrics to her own national anthem.
The singer, who recently starred in ‘& Juliet’ on Broadway, was performing ahead of New York’s showdown with the Milwaukee Brewers at Yankee Stadium.
She was given the chance to sing the first national anthem of the season in the Bronx but her performance went viral for all the wrong reasons.
‘Whoever (is) singing the anthem for the Yankees game gotta be embarrassed,’ one baseball fan said on X.
MLB fans have criticized Broadway actress Betsy Wolfe for her National Anthem performance
Yankees fans saw her appearing to look at her phone for the lyrics to the Star-Spangled Banner
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‘The young lady singing the national anthem at the #Yankees game is reading the lyrics off of her phone….YIKES #OpeningDay,’ another MLB fan said on social media.
‘Worst sober national anthem maybe,’ a third said, making reference to Ingrid Andress’ viral national anthem performance before the Home Run Derby last season.
‘I hate to be mean but if that anthem wasn’t a bad omen I don’t know what it was? #Yankees,’ a fourth stated.
‘Wow! How Embarrassing Singing of National Anthem for Opening Day at Yankee Stadium. And she also Needed her Cell Phone to Remember the Words. Really! Is this the Best You Could Get/Afford for Opening Day? @Yankees,’ a fifth concluded.
Earlier this month, Andress spoke out about her disastrous performance of the national anthem, when she was drunk on the field and checked herself into rehab the next day.
‘It only took, you know, global humiliation for me to be like “this is a problem,”‘ Andress said on ‘The Viall Files’. ‘I was so gone that afterward, I thought that I like, kind of nailed it.’
Wolfe sung ahead of New York’s showdown with the Milwaukee Brewers at Yankee Stadium
Aaron Judge and Co kicked off the new Major League Baseball season on home soil
A collection of messages about Betsy Wolfe’s national anthem before the Yankees game
Andress recalled taking the field ‘not caring’ about how her performance would go and it was not until the next morning when she sobered up and realized what had transpired.
‘I was like, “Okay, this is so unlike me, like, this is not okay,'” Andress said.
On Thursday, the Yankees fared better than Wolfe – New York squeezed past the Brewers, winning 4-2 win despite some last-inning drama.
Wolfe is also famous for starring in ‘Waitress’, ‘The Last Five Years’, ‘Falsettos’, and ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ in New York City.
Wolfe posted about her experience singing the National Anthem on Thursday, showing herself and her daughter getting ready for her time in the spotlight.
Her most famous Broadway role was perhaps her most recent – in ‘& Juliet’ as William Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway.
Wolfe was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2023.
Against tough competition, she lost to Bonnie Milligan from the show ‘Kimberly Akimbo’.