A Latin-R&B musician says she’s “proud of herself” for choosing defiance.
Dominican American singer Nezza belted out an emotional rendition of “El Pendón Estrellado,” the official Spanish-language version of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” before a Los Angeles Dodgers game on Saturday, amid ongoing anti-deportation protests in the city.
In a video published to TikTok, Nezza, whose real name is Vanessa Hernández, is shown standing behind home plate at Dodgers stadium sporting a T-shirt emblazoned with the Dominican Republic flag. As she hits the national anthem’s final high note, the crowd can be heard enthusiastically applauding.
Yet, no footage of her powerful performance is featured on any of the Dodgers’ official social media platforms. According to Nezza, the reason is because she chose to sing the song in Spanish despite the team’s wishes.
HuffPost has reached out to the Los Angeles Dodgers for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.
In a TikTok published to the singer’s account on Saturday after her performance, Hernández can be seen being told by a Dodgers staff member that “we are going to do the song in English today.” Overlaying text in the video reads: “watch the dodgers tell me i can’t sing the spanish star spangled banner that Roosevelt literally commissioned in 1945 … So I did it anyway. ”
“El Pendón Estrellado” was written in 1945 by Clotilde Arias, a Peruvian immigrant who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1942, per the Smithsonian. The U.S. Department of State commissioned Arias to provide an official Spanish translation of the national anthem in the hopes that it would help “assimilate immigrants into the United States as well as to share its values and patriotism with Central and South America.”
In a follow-up TikTok video published Saturday night, a “shooken up” Nezza told her followers that it’s “safe to say I’m never allowed in that stadium ever again.”
“I just felt like I needed to do it, para mi gente [for my people],” she explained.
“My parents are immigrants,” she continued. “They’ve been citizens my whole life at this point, but I just can’t imagine them being ripped away from me. Not now. Not when I was a kid. Never.”
On Sunday, however, the Dodgers told the Los Angeles Times that there were no hard feelings, telling a reporter that “there were no consequences from the club regarding the performance and that Nezza would be welcome back at the stadium in the future.”
Yet this has not stopped fans from criticizing the Dodgers in the comment sections of their official social media accounts.
“Are we allowed to speak Spanish at the stadium when we go to games or will we get kicked out,” one Instagram user wrote in the comment section of a completely unrelated post.
“REMEMBER LATINOS FILL UP YOUR STADIUM!! 🇲🇽🇲🇽” another Instagram user said in response to a post highlighting a pitcher on the Dodgers.
“Your silence speaks volumes,” said another Instagram user.
“Nezza’s performance was beautiful and you owe her a public apology,” a user said in response to a feel-good video featuring young Dodger fans on TikTok.
“God bless America! God bless Nezza for doing the thing that both unifies us AND stands in truth to power ❤️🤍💙,” echoed another TikTok user.
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