OFF PITCH: National Anthem Sung In Spanish At Dodgers Game In Protest Of ICE

Latin R&B singer Nezza made waves before a Los Angeles Dodgers game on Saturday when she sang “The Star Spangled Banner” in Spanish despite being told not to.

The 30-year-old recording artist, whose full name is Vanessa Hernández, mocked the controversy in a post on her TikTok account. “para mi gente [for my people]; I stand with you,” she wrote in the video caption, which has almost 8 million views.

“Watch the Dodgers tell me I can’t sing the Spanish ‘Star Spangled Banner that Roosevelt literally commissioned in 1945,” she gloated in a text overlay.

The video clip attached shows Nezza smiling and wearing a Dominican Republic jersey. A team representative can be heard telling her, “We are gonna do the song in English today. I’m not sure if that wasn’t relayed.” Nezza immediately stops smiling and says, “Ohhhh.” 

The video then cuts to a shot of her singing the anthem in Spanish with a text overlay that says, “so I did it anyway.”

Singer Nezza was told by the Dodgers to sing the National Anthem in English but she sang it in spanish to protest ICE.

She then gets very emotional and cries over ICE deporting criminals who are in our country illegally. pic.twitter.com/1sTDbXx3aT

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 15, 2025

Nezza followed up with another TikTok on Saturday night, saying through tears, “Safe to say I’m never allowed in that stadium ever again.” 

“Bear with me ’cause I’m still very shaken up and emotional,” the singer said in the follow-up before trying to justify her decision. “You can Google it, (but) I’ll just read it to you really quick: ‘It was officially commissioned in 1945 by the U.S. State Department as a part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s good neighbor policy to foster a better relationship with Latin America.”

“Because of this, I didn’t think I would be met with any sort of, like, no, especially because we’re in L.A., and with everything happening. And I’ve sung the national anthem many times in my life, but … today, out of all days, I could not, I’m sorry,” Nezza added.

“I just could not believe when she walked in and told me no. I just felt like I needed to do it. For anyone who’s been following me for a while, you know everything I do is out of love,” she continued. “And I am proud of myself for doing that today. Because my parents are immigrants, and they’ve been citizens my whole life at this point. They got documented really early, but I just can’t imagine them being ripped away from me, just even at this age, let alone [as] a little kid. What are we doing?”

On Sunday, a Dodgers team official told The Los Angeles Times that “there were no consequences from the club regarding the performance and that Nezza would be welcome back at the stadium in the future.”

Videos of Nezza’s Spanish rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” began circulating on social media, where it received mixed but mostly negative reactions. 

“Can you imagine what would happen if you did that in another country? The entitlement and disrespect is off the charts,” one reaction on X said. 

“Kinda loses its virtue when you start posting about it for likes and attention without letting the recognition and praise happen organically. Shows you did it for the wrong reasons,” another commenter chimed in.