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We’ve all gotten distracted on the job — it’s just not always in front of 20,000 people.
Singer Liceli was in the middle of a perfectly acceptable performance of the Star Spangled Banner before Thursday night’s New York Knicks game against the Charlotte Hornets at Madison Square Garden when an unruly heckler caught her attention.
Just as she was singing “whose broad stripes and bright stars,” someone in the crowd shouted something hard to make out on camera. Before Liceli could say “perilous fight,” she stopped short and looked over her right shoulder in the heckler’s direction.
It made for an awkward silence, but it lasted just a few seconds. Like a true pro, Liceli quickly picked up where she left off, smiling at her own slip-up. The crowd erupted in applause to encourage her, while cameras caught Knicks superstar Karl-Anthony Towns laughing at the incident.
As national anthem snafus go, this one was pretty mild and will be mostly remembered for the grace with which Liceli handled it. She even withstood another heckle later in the song and didn’t miss a beat.
The Knicks had her back as well, posting the video via X with the text, “KAT and the Garden had her back & she crushed it.” The account also shared Liceli’s Instagram and asked fans to “show some love.”
The fans seem to have listened. Liceli posted a video of herself preparing to sing the anthem and afterward, fans flooded the comments with support.
“Before the haters come in, you did amazing,” one fan wrote. “Keep it up.”
“You did such a great job,” another added. “Wishing you nothing but the best going forward.”
One YouTube commenter hilariously noted that the heckler may have “bet the over on the national anthem,” referring to the common prop bet regarding how long it takes a singer to perform the anthem from start to finish.
Towns, a first-year Knick and New Jersey native, didn’t address the performance directly, but had plenty of praise for Knicks fans after the game.
“It’s magical to be here in The Mecca and be here at MSG and have the crowd react like that to a play you make. Obviously it’s a momentum changer and it’s a boost to the morale of this team,” he told reporters. “The fans love the highlight plays, but it’s all about wins here in New York.”
Most importantly for Knicks fans, New York won the game, 125-101, as Towns finished with 27 points and 16 rebounds.
Hopefully Liceli gets another chance to perform at Madison Square Garden. In the meantime, don’t heckle anthem singers. Their jobs are stressful enough.
