NBA Finals Singer Faces Slurs

Haters gonna hate, but they’re not gonna stop “Mariachi Kid.” Sebastien de la Cruz, an 11-year-old Mexican-American from Texas, sang the National Anthem Tuesday before Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat, only to receive vitriolic racist backlash on Twitter. “Why they got this mexican django on my screen singing the national anthem,” read one particularly nasty tweet. But the public maelstrom didn‘t faze the mature de la Cruz, who calls himself “a proud American,” and the Spurs brought him back to sing again before Thursday night’s Game 4. He was introduced by Mayor Julian Castro, and even President Obama tweeted support for El Charro de Oro, the boy with the golden voice. And boy, did de la Cruz bring down the house.