Broadway icon Kristin Chenoweth posted a cryptic Instagram story on Sunday night after her national anthem performance was panned by some NBA fans.
Tony award winner Chenoweth, who is an Oklahoma native and massive Thunder fan, sang the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ before the team’s championship-clinching Game 7 win over the Pacers.
But the performance didn’t go over well with some viewers as she delivered a particularly long note towards the end of the rendition.
And later in the night, she appeared to reference the backlash on her Instagram story, as she re-posted a quote which read: ‘The price of authenticity is being disliked.’
In a separate post, Chenoweth posted an excerpt from John Steinbeck’s ‘East of Eden’, which said: ‘And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.’
Nonetheless, the performer didn’t seem too affected by any criticism she may have seen as she later posted a video of herself celebrating the Thunder’s 103-91 win.
Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth was slammed by NBA fans for her national anthem
And the Broadway icon posted a cryptic response to her Instagram story later in the night
However, she didn’t seem to affected by the backlash as she celebrated the Thunder’s win
The former ‘Wicked’ star gleefully screamed ‘We did it!’ from her seat after the franchise had taken down Indiana to win its first championship.
The Thunder ultimately won in comfortable fashion, with MVP Shai Gilgeous- Alexander finishing with 29 points and 12 assists.
Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren also chipped in with 20 and 18 points apiece to get OKC to the finish line.
Earlier in the night, however, Chenoweth had been on the receiving end of some brutal criticism from fans in response to her national anthem performance.
One ABC viewer on social media described it as ‘the worst national anthem I ever heard’.
Another fan said: ‘Geeze these national anthem singers are getting worse every time’.
And a third commented: ‘I just witnessed another trashing of a national anthem.’
Another viewer took aim at the long high note that Chenoweth hit at the end of the song, saying: ‘the end of that anthem made my dog uncomfortable’.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named Finals MVP after inspiring the Thunder to their first title
Chenoweth also posted this excerpt from John Steinbeck’s book ‘East of Eden’
Chenoweth went to Oklahoma City University after growing up in Broken Arrow, about 115 miles northeast of where the Thunder play.
And she 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.
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 also received two other Tony nominations for best leading actress in a musical, one in 2004 for playing Glinda in ‘Wicked’, and the other in 2015 for playing 1930s Hollywood diva Lily Garland in ‘On the Twentieth Century.’
