Racist Tweets Attacking an Eleven-Year-Old Boy

In June of 2013, America watched then eleven-year-old, Sebastien De La Cruz sing the National Anthem before game three of the NBA Finals in San Antonio, Texas. Sebastien became famous from being a contestant on America’s Got Talent earlier that year. From an article that analyzed this situation, Brian Leigh states “De La Cruz nailed his rendition of the national anthem and earned the plaudits of 19,000 fans inside the arena.”

Everything seemed fine and dandy… until Twitter exploded with updates and comments about the performance. Many people took their feelings out on twitter about what they really thought about De La Cruz’s execution of the National Anthem. People were offended that a little Mexican American boy wearing his mariachi outfit and the presence of this smooth Latin ring of his surname were being associated with “their American song”. After De La Cruz’s performance, twitter boomed with racial remarks about how a Mexican should not be singing America’s National Anthem.