NBA fans savage Broadway icon's national anthem before finals Game 7 between Thunder and Pacers
Chenoweth, an Oklahoma native and passionate Thunder fan, took center stage live on ABC in the moments before tip off at the first Game 7 in the finals for nine years.
But her rendition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner', in which she delivered one particularly long high note, did not go down well.
It was described by one ABC viewer on social media as 'the worst national anthem I ever heard'.
Another viewer posted: 'Geeze these national anthem singers are getting worse every time'.
A third commented: 'I just witnessed another trashing of a national anthem.'
Other fans described it as 'horrible' and 'rough'.
Referring to the high note Chenoweth hit, one brutal fan posted: 'The end of that anthem made my dog uncomfortable'.
Chenoweth's Thunder fandom has been no secret since the franchise's early years, though she also has professed at times to liking the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks as well.
That said, the Thunder are clearly her top choice - so much so that she once told the Tulsa World she spent three hours bedazzling a Thunder hat.
She went to Oklahoma City University after growing up in Broken Arrow, about 115 miles northeast of where the Thunder play. And her 8-year-old dog's name is Thunder. She even dressed the pup up once in a Thunder outfit.
'I never miss a game unless I'm on stage,' Chenoweth said. 'I was a cheerleader in high school in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and I loved football, but my favorite was basketball.
'I like how much of a team player you've got to be and this is my team.'
Chenoweth has sung the anthem at a few Thunder games in the past, sometimes alone and at least once with children from her Chenoweth Broadway Bootcamp.
That camp is part of the arts and education fund that she founded to cultivate 'young artistic expression by enriching children´s lives through the power of education, entertainment and experience.'
Chenoweth won a Tony Award in 1999 for best leading actress in a musical for her role in 'You´re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.'
She received two other Tony nominations for best leading actress in a musical, one in 2004 for playing Glinda in 'Wicked' - she lost to co-star Idina Menzel - and the other in 2015 for playing 1930s Hollywood diva Lily Garland in 'On the Twentieth Century.'
And in 2009, she won an Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy series for her work on ABC's 'Pushing Daisies.' She returns to Broadway this fall, playing Jackie Siegel in 'The Queen of Versailles.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
8 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Emily Blunt keeps a low profile as she leaves set of The Devil Wears Prada 2
Emily Blunt kept things casual as she was spotted leaving the set of The Devil Wears Prada 2 in New York City on Tuesday. The actress, 42, who is reprising her role of Emily Charlton from the first movie, tried to keep a low profile in a baby blue T-shirt tucked into a pair of jeans. Emily completed the look with a baseball cap, a pair of white trainers, a gold necklace, and a handbag. Emily portrayed the assistant of magazine editor Miranda Priestly, portrayed by Meryl Streep while Anne Hathaway starred as her junior assistant Andy Sachs. All three women are reprising their roles in the sequel alongside new cast members Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux, BJ Novak, and Pauline Chalamet. In the sequel, Emily's character, Emily Charlton, has climbed the corporate ladder and now holds the power Miranda needs, setting the stage for a delicious clash of ambition, loyalty, and fashion politics. While plot details are still under wraps, sources suggest the film may draw inspiration from Lauren Weisberger's 2013 novel Revenge Wears Prada, which follows Andy's post-Runway life as she becomes a magazine editor, only to find Miranda crashing back into her world. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is slated to hit theaters on May 1, 2026, marking two decades since the original movie became a pop culture icon. The original movie lifted the lid on the cut-throat fashion world, and two decades on, that world will have changed, not least for Runway editor-in-chief Miranda, played by Meryl. The movie is expected to at least reveal her fate, showing her character dealing with the decline of print industry. One question is whether she will have retained her icy demeanor. In one scene in the first film, Andy chuckles through an editorial fashion meeting led by Priestly, who then delivers a cutting assessment of her 'cerulean' sweater. 'You think this has nothing to do with you,' Priestly tells her. The editor adds: 'You go to your closet, and you select, I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back, but what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean.' The scene became iconic and spawned the 'cerulean blue' theory of how all styles trickle down from the catwalk. Anne's post went viral, with fans quoting Miranda's epic takedown of Andy's supposed fashion indifference. One said: 'She's wearing that cerulean blue!!!' Another confessed they felt 'like a kid waiting for Christmas for The Devil Wears Prada sequel'.
The Guardian
21 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Benedict Cumberbatch says Hollywood is a ‘grossly wasteful industry'
Benedict Cumberbatch has called the Hollywood film industry 'grossly wasteful', taking particular issue with its squandering of resources in the aid of set building, lighting – and bulking up physiques for blockbusters. 'It's horrific eating beyond your appetite,' Cumberbatch told Ruth Rogers on her food-focused podcast, Ruthie's Table 4, adding that when he was shooting Marvel's Doctor Strange, he would eat five meals a day. In addition, he would snack on boiled eggs, almonds and cheese, in order to try to ingest enough protein to transform his body. 'Going back to responsibility and resourcefulness and sustainability, it's just like, 'What am I doing? I could feed a family with the amount I'm eating,'' Cumberbatch said. 'It's a grossly wasteful industry,' he continued. 'Think about set builds that aren't recycled, think about transport, think about food, think about housing, but also light and energy. The amount of wattage you need to create daylight and consistent light in a studio environment. It's a lot of energy.' Cumberbatch conceded that actors are frequently accused of hypocrisy when bemoaning the lack of sustainability in Hollywood, but said he does try to 'push the green initiative' on sets, in his capacity as both actor and producer. He cited single-use plastic as an example, saying: 'You don't have to give the crew plastic bottles. If you're in the middle of a desert and you can't get glass bottles there, fair enough. But we're in the 21st century.' Movies can emit on average between 391 metric tonnes for a small film and up to 3,370 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions for major blockbusters; the equivalent of powering 702 homes for a year. In 2021, the Producers Guild of America issued an industry-wide call for a transition to clean energy. 'Climate change is impacting our productions. Our health and safety, and filming locations are being irreparably damaged by increased pollution, wildfires, floods, storms, and droughts,' they wrote. 'The sustainability measures currently being taken in our industry are sporadic and wholly inadequate to meet the current level of threat.' The Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year, which killed 31 people and destroyed more than 16,000 structures across the city, refocused attention on the film and TV industry's engagement with efforts to curb its impact on the planet. Among celebrities whose homes were destroyed in the fires were Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson, Billy Crystal, Paris Hilton and Eugene Levy, while many – including Meryl Streep and the late David Lynch – were forced to make emergency evacuations. Some studios have made pledges to try to reduce their carbon footprint. The Walt Disney Company aims to 'purchase or produce 100% zero-carbon electricity' by 2030, according to its 2023 Sustainability and Social Impact report. Stars including Jane Fonda, Woody Harrelson and Julia Roberts have been outspoken champions of wider action on environmental issues, while Mark Rylance, Bill Nighy and Hayley Atwell were among those who supported the introduction of a 'green rider' to guarantee sustainability on set. Yet the enormous resources required to make most big budget films, as well as to promote and market them, mean Hollywood is an industry whose logistics and mindset are often at odds with prioritising the planet. Leonardo DiCaprio, Hollywood's most high-profile advocate for ecological awareness, established his self-titled foundation in 1998 to help 'restore balance to threatened ecosystems, ensuring the long-term health and wellbeing of all Earth's inhabitants'. But despite donating money to further these aims, and becoming involved in a number of plant-based companies, such as Beyond Meat and chickpea snack company Hippeas, the actor has been criticised for his conspicuous jet-setting. Last month, DiCaprio was photographed apparently attempting to hide his face while attending the much-criticised wedding of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez in Venice.
Daily Mail
36 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Only Murders In The Building season five return date finally confirmed by Disney+ as Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short reunite in first look pic
The Only Murders In The Building season five return date has finally been confirmed as Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short reunite in a first look picture. The beloved crime show will be making its comeback to Disney+ on September 9, with ten brand new episodes, after the fourth series finished in October last year. The programme follows three neighbours, all with a keen interest in true crime podcasts, living in an upmarket apartment building in New York City. They begin investigating a series of suspicious murders in the so-called Arconia block of flats and make their own podcast about their discoveries. Three episodes of the upcoming fifth instalment will hit the streamer in the first instance, followed by one every week subsequently. And a first look image at the return of Steve, Selena and Martin's characters looking utterly shocked promises some exciting twists and turns are on the way. The plot of the new series will again follow their characters: the semi-retired, washed up actor Charles; young artist, apartment renovator and murder mystery enthusiast Mabel; and struggling Broadway director Oliver. After the building's much-loved doorman Lester (Teddy Coluca) mysteriously dies, the trio refuse to believe it could be an accident. They do what they do best and begin digging - gradually revealing a mysterious web of billionaires, mobsters and shady characters within the building itself. Michael Cyril Creighton will be back as their cat-lover neighbour and podcast assistant Howard, as will Meryl Streep as Oliver's wife Loretta. They will be joined by a legion of stellar guest stars, including Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Renee Zellweger, Christoph Waltz, Keegan Michael-Key and Dianne Wiest. Other huge stars set to make an appearance include Richard Kind, Nathan Lane, Bobby Cannavale, Logan Lerman, Tea Leoni, Beanie Feldstein and Jermaine Fowler. The series was co-created in 2021 by lead actor Steve and his writing partner John Hoffman - and has been a roaring success ever since. It comes after the fourth season saw the leads travel from their hometown of New York City to Hollywood to work on a movie about how their podcast was created. Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria and Zach Galifianakis played the detective trio in the movie within the most recent instalment. They were joined by some new faces such as Melissa McCarthy and Molly Shannon - while Kumail Nanjiani was also onboard. There was a murder to solve as well, of course, as every season involves a mystery the pals have to figure out. In that series, Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch), who was Charles' stunt double, was killed. But the gang thought the murder was meant for Charles, not Sazz - and so the sleuths were determined to track down the killer. Series four of Only Murders in the Building premiered on August 27 last year. Unlike previous seasons, episodes aired on a weekly basis rather than all at once. 'New season. New case. Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez return for Season 4 of #OMITB. August 27. There was a murder to solve as well, of course, as every season involves a mystery the pals have to figure out 'Streaming on Hulu and with Hulu on Disney+ for Disney Bundle subscribers', it read on Hulu's Instagram page, the platform on which the show is aired in the US. In May last year, the first teaser was shared for the fourth series of Only Murders In The Building. It showed Selena, Steve and Martin stepping out of an elevator inside their apartment building, returning as their beloved trio of characters. Former Disney channel star Selena could be seen in a glittering, gold dress as she talked to her co-stars. 'So, what's next podcast wise?' she asked, with Martin replying with, 'What we need, is a, hot fresh, dead body. Preferably, right here or very near to here.' The scene then jumped to Jane's character's dead body, after her death at the very end of the third season. 'Somewhere lay a sniper's nest', Martin could be heard saying in a different scene. 'You know this is happening. We might as well just start', he told Steve. The clip then cut to Selena reading out a message she received on her phone. The trio was seen in Beverly Hills in a teaser shared in May last year 'I just got an email that a Hollywood studio wants to make a movie about our podcast.' Martin, who was sitting on the floor, excited stood up and exclaimed, 'The pictures? Pack your bags b****es! We are going to the movies!' Text on the screen appeared over different shots of Los Angeles and teased fans: 'Get ready for the starriest season yet.' A montage of Selena, Steve and Martin attempting to solve the murder mystery appeared during the trailer. In some mysterious moments, Selena was seen at one point looking through a dimly lit kitchen with her phone and a pig running down a hall. Another scene showed Steve calling out, 'Hello Hollywood!' while the trio stood through the sun roof of a sleek limo while being driven down a street lined with scenic palm trees as they ate fast food.
