Boy's National Anthem Sparks Racist Comments CNN
go to original June 13, 2013

Twitter became a hotbed for controversy as some fans posted racist comments about 12-year-old Sebastian De La Cruz singing the national anthem. (FOX San Antonio)

CNN Update: In less than 48 hours, Sebastien De La Cruz has become a household name. The 11-year-old Mexican-American boy's singing of the national anthem in his mariachi outfit caused a stir during game 3 of the NBA finals in his San Antonio hometown Tuesday. On Thursday night, the Spurs decided to bring back "El Charro de oro" for an encore performance.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — An 11-year-old boy’s rendition of the national anthem at Game 3 of the NBA finals brought the usual appreciative applause Tuesday, but outside AT&T Center in San Antonio, his performance brought a darker reaction from some posters on social media — and eventually an online backlash against their racist comments.

... Sebastien has been singing since he was 5 but gained fame in 2012 after being on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” for singing his mariachi ballads with hopes of winning to help his younger brother get surgery for his hearing problem.

... A collection of the negative tweets was posted on Public Shaming, a Tumblr blog dedicated to outing and shaming racists’ social media posts. Other media outlets used that post as the foundation for the story, and the story took off from there.

... After the harsh reaction spread across the Internet, tweets supporting and defending Sebastien and vociferously denouncing his critics started to take over.

Read the rest at FOX San Antonio

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