OH DEAR

Pop Newcomer Conan Gray’s ‘Star Spangled Banner’ Is Being Dragged

The budding star sang the national anthem at the Home Run Derby in Los Angeles on Monday, and the reviews aren’t great.

It's every budding pop star’s worst nightmare: Conan Gray, a 23-year-old singer-songwriter who cites Taylor Swift as one of his biggest influences, is being roundly lambasted online this week for his rendition of the National Anthem at Major League Baseball’s Home Run Derby. “Bro, I think Conan Gray is tone-deaf,” was one of the kinder comments. Encouragingly, however, Gray’s fans are also rushing to defend him against accusations that his was the worst version of the Star-Spangled Banner of all time. “With the way y’all were talking, I expected Conan Gray to sound way worse,” one tweeter wrote. “Don’t get me wrong, it was a mess, but he didn’t sound anywhere near as terrible as Fergie.”

Poor Fergie. She’ll never live it down.