A sweet rendition of the US anthem at a basketball game by an 11-year-old mariachi singer sparked a racist-tinged online response quickly crushed by the boy’s supporters.
Sebastien de la Cruz, known as El Charro de Oro — or the boy with the golden voice — was already a popular figure in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas when he was invited to sing ahead of an NBA final.
He hit every note of the notoriously tricky anthem before the Spurs took on the Miami Heat late Tuesday, but some Internet users were apparently offended by his ethnic appearance.
A Tumblr site named Public Shaming captured some of the ugliest comments, prompting a mass outpouring of support for de la Cruz that shamed some offenders into shuttering their Twitter accounts.
Others said they were swayed.
“I am sorry for the racist comment I recently posted during the nba finals game. Due to the comments, I have changed my views,” wrote @bdub597, who goes by THE_GREAT_WHITE.
He had been castigated for writing “Can’t believe they had the nerve to have a beaner sing the national anthem of AMERICA.”
San Antonio is 63 percent Hispanic, but that didn’t prevent others from expressing outrage that a “Mexican” or “illegal alien” was singing “our” anthem.
De la Cruz, who had previously been a finalist on America’s Got Talent and is the son of a US Navy veteran, thanked his supporters and dismissed online critics.
“I don’t really care about what y’all say and I am doing this right now,” he said as he brushed his shoulders with his hands,” he told reporters Wednesday.
“To be honest, it’s just the people how they were raised.
“My father and my mother told me that you should never judge people by how they look. You should judge them on the inside. And the saying that I go by is ‘never judge a book by its cover,'” de la Cruz added.
The Spurs responded by inviting him back to sing ahead of Game 4 later Thursday, local media reported.
Racist backlash after mariachi boy, 11, sings US anthem
