Indie singer Loomis botches national anthem at Free and Equal Presidential Debate
An indie singer horrifically butchered her rendition of the national anthem during a live telecast of the Free & Equal Presidential Debate between three third-party presidential nominees.
Loomis was called upon to sing the “Star-Spangled Banner” in front of candidates Chase Oliver (Libertarian Party,) Dr. Jill Stein (Green Party) and Randall Terry (Constitution Party) in Los Angeles Wednesday when the performance went off the rails.
Loomis’ voice cracked mid-anthem, which she did so in acapella when she belted out “and the rockets red glare,” claiming she was distracted.
“I f–ked it up, I f–ked it up, can I go back please?” the singer pleaded.
Broadcast staff off-stage told Loomis they were livestreaming and couldn’t go back, leaving her to continue singing.
“The bombs bursting in air,” she continued before stopping again.
“I got too nervous,” Loomis added.
The singer received a round of applause from several people around the stage as she walked off seemingly confused as to where to go.
“Thank you Loomis, that was beautiful, appreciate you coming here tonight,” debate co-moderator Christina Tobin said.
The singer, who has less than 3,000 streams on Spotify, tried to explain herself following her now-viral performance.
“I really do sing and I am really a good singer. So what had happened was I didn’t know it was live,” Loomis told TMZ.
The singer claimed she only had one day before the debate to practice the “scariest thing she ever did.”
Loomis says she walked out and began singing but one of the production workers told her they weren’t ready, so she assumed it wasn’t live so she could go back.
“When we got to the spot and then I got nervous and then I was scared, but it was crazy,” she added.
Loomis says she is the daughter of a veteran and didn’t want to mess up the anthem.
“Since I was a little girl, I always said I don’t want to sing the national anthem, it’s like the scariest thing to me ever because everyone’s all standing up so serious everyone’s all quiet,” she told the outlet while holding her left hand against her chest.
She isn’t the first singer to mess up their rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner” and she has a theory as to why the botched performances are somewhat common.
“It’s so standard and everyone’s so quiet and so serious. It’s not like your own show when you get to be yourself or express yourself,” she said. “It’s like you’re putting on for the whole nation, and it’s a scary thing.”
Loomis isn’t letting her infamous performance stop her singing career or her portrayal of patriotism as she has already gotten an offer from “Good Morning America” to redeem herself.
The Free & Equal Presidential Debate was hosted by The Free and Equal Elections Foundation, a non-profit advocating for electoral reform and a fair, transparent election process.
In the 2024 race for the White House, former President Donald Trump is seen neck-and-neck with Vice President Kamala Harris as the third-party nominees are receiving around 1 percent nationally, according KTVZ.
The most successful general election campaign from a third party came in 1912 when incumbent Theodore Roosevelt ran for the Progressive Party, garnering 27.4 percent of the popular vote and 88 electoral votes, ultimately losing to eventual winner Woodrow Wilson.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. campaigned as an Independent but dropped out and threw his support behind Trump when Harris replaced President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket.
