Tony Award-winning actress leaves NBA fans divided after Game 7 anthem goes viral
'I would have rather listened to Fergie's anthem performance than that one by Kristin Chenoweth,' a third user wrote, referencing the Black-Eyed Peas singer's infamous outing at the 2018 NBA all-star game.
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The reviews weren't all bad, however, with many applauding
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'Not even 30 seconds in and she already made 3 people cry and 1 ref rethink his calls,' one user joked on X.
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'Perfect in every way. Ranks in the top five best ever renditions of the beautiful Star Spangled Banner. Brought tears to my eyes,' another wrote.
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'Oklahoma native Kristin Chenoweth nailed the national anthem before Game 7,' a third user posted.
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Chenoweth, who won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and also has starred as Glinda in Wicked on Broadway, hails from Broken Arrow, Okla., roughly 185 km northeast of Oklahoma City.
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Chenoweth has been a vocal supporter of the Thunder and was prepped to 'Thunder Up' with her performance, rocking a team T-shirt.
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GAME 7 TONIGHT. THUNDER UP!!! ⚡️🏀
SO proud of these boys. Let's go!! #ThunderUp #NBAFinals @okcthunder @NBA pic.twitter.com/zLLb5tVxmN
— Kristin Chenoweth (@KChenoweth) June 22, 2025
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She must have been thrilled with the game's end result, too: OKC defeated the visiting Pacers 103-91 to capture the franchise's first NBA championship.
Toronto's own Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points in Game 7 and was named the Finals MVP, completing a spectacular run which saw him become the second Canadian to ever win the league's regular-season MVP award, following the great Steve Nash, who won it twice.
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Perhaps ironically, Fredrick says the most common feedback is that trailers don't show enough, rather than reveal too much. "Usually, research suggests very strongly, 'You better tell the audience more,'" he said. 'A delicate dance' Fredrick recalls working on the trailer for The Shawshank Redemption as one of the more difficult marketing projects he's worked on. "It's always been a delicate dance between trying your best to persuade consumers to go see a film, and trying to maintain a certain degree of mystery and anticipation about a film," he said. The 1994 film, while critically acclaimed today, didn't offer obvious hooks to draw in a mainstream audience with an attention-grabbing trailer. "It was set in a prison, carried a dark and serious tone and was rated R," he said. The director, Frank Darabont, was adamant about not giving away main plot points, such as how the main character escapes the prison, and how he gets revenge with the cruel warden. "I had a blast cutting it, because the movie is filled with wonderful moments. But those moments and the story had a lot of obstacles to get the general public interested in going to see it," he said. Does First Steps stumble? Simonpillai doesn't believe the Fantastic Four trailers truly spoiled the film's magic. In fact, he believes that the film's biggest strengths lie not in its twists, but in its visuals and performances. "There's so much pleasure in its visual aesthetic and its retro-futuristic version of Manhattan in the '60s," he said. And it's the cast that gave the film its lasting resonance. "They're playing very archetypal characters, but this cast is so good that they give it a beating heart," said Simonpillai. "Everything that's really good about this movie that makes it stand apart as a fun, almost Star Trek-y adventure is not gonna be spoiled."
