NBC / Courtesy Of NFL
Super Bowl LVI is already off to a bumpy start — because the folks running the broadcast apparently couldn’t tell one of their marquee singers from another … oof.
Shortly before kickoff Sunday, NBC was introducing R&B singer Jhene Aiko — who was going to belt out ‘America the Beautiful’ … shortly before country singer Mickey Guyton was set to take the mantle for the National Anthem.
Jhene Aiko performance was beautiful
pic.twitter.com/0yHubVKwmI— Steez (@Steez_HH) February 13, 2022
@Steez_HH
All seemed to be going just fine … that is, until they panned to the wrong person entirely while flashing a Jhene name graphic on the screen. Instead of her, they focused on Mickey — who was looking on from an elevated platform.
Huge blunder, obviously … but the camera eventually found the right person in Jhene, who gave us a solid, and somewhat subtle, rendition of the tune.
🇺🇸 Mickey Guyton’s National Anthem goes WAY over 90 seconds and the public are huge winners before the game starts! pic.twitter.com/Ofa93tzDJI
— BetOnline.ag (@betonline_ag) February 13, 2022
@betonline_ag
Mickey was up next, and her performance of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ was absolutely spectacular … getting huge cheers and applause.
Still, everyone noticed the screw-up that started everything — and some couldn’t help but wonder how and why they could’ve gotten it that wrong. Here’s hoping the rest of the program isn’t as messy.
Considering it’s a packed house — that’s chock-full of celebs — it goes without saying … the less mistakes the better.