Kelly Clarkson and John Legend have been accused of being unpatriotic after the two coaches on “The Voice” criticized Gyth Rigdon’s rendition of “God Bless the U.S.A.”
Rigdon, who is on Blake Shelton’s team, performed the Lee Greenwood hit for the Season 16, top eight episode on Monday night.
Apparently, there’s no room for error when someone sings a song like “God Bless the U.S.A.” At least, that’s what some former fans of Clarkson and Legend would have people believe.
While Blake told Gyth he was excited about the song choice because he thinks it was “the perfect song for this moment,” Kelly Clarkson was not feeling the delivery of Gyth’s performance, and she was a little nervous at first to admit it.
“I feel like you can’t critique this song or you’re going to hell or something,” said Clarkson. “I will say this was not my favorite vocal for you this season. I think you’re a ridiculously talented vocalist.”
She repeated that the song wasn’t her favorite but at the same time commended Rigdon for picking it. She acknowledged that it meant something to him and noted that it was never performed on the show before.
Co-judge John Legend shares the same sentiments. After joking about Rigdon’s choice to sing the song on the day we celebrated the British invasion, he stated:
“I agree with Kelly, it wasn’t your greatest vocal performance. It was strong. I felt the emotion it was a powerful rendition. Great job,” said Legend.
Twitter, of course, took John and Kelly’s critique personally.
Some of the comments about the performance and critiques accused Legend and Clarkson of hating America because of their statements about Rigdon’s performance. Other comments pointed out that the two judges were criticizing Rigdon’s performance, and not the song itself.
One person tweeted: “What is wrong with John Legend & Kelly Clarkson? Gyth rocked that song..America first John!”
While another person tweeted: “I’m sorry that you and John hate America so much that you couldn’t recognize Gyth song as a great rendition.”
However, other viewers defended Legend and Clarkson’s honesty, like this person who tweeted:
“All the Trumpers are so triggered because Kelly and John didn’t like Gyth’s performance. Could it be possible that they actually are patriotic and just didn’t like this one performance?”
Watch his full performance below:
Source: AWM
