Loomis Delivers Appalling National Anthem Performance At 3rd Party Debate: “I F****d It Up, Can I Go Back?”

Having just covered the rather polarizing national anthem performance by Dodgers fan Brad Paisley at Game 1 of the World Series in Los Angeles, my own search-related queries along those lines turned up a true masterclass in how to butcher "The Star-Spangled Banner." Speaking of polarization, I think it's safe to say there aren't many Americans on the fence about who they're going to vote for in the presidential election. Lines are pretty clearly drawn. As much discord as there is amongst those who plan to vote for Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris, I think we can all agree that those candidates are the only ones with realistic chances to win. Like it or not, the USA is a predominant two-party system. Any efforts by third-party candidates are trivial and for naught, at least for the foreseeable future. But hey, bless those folks on the fringes of American politics. They will still take the debate stage and state their cases for the Oval Office. Free country, right? If you're going to subject people to these types of inconsequential exercises, though, you might as well entertain them, or make such occasions memorable by any means necessary. To their credit, intentional or not, the third party debate did just that by hiring a singer named Loomis to deliver the U.S. national anthem. I kid you not, tears were welling up in my eyes for how bad this was. https://twitter.com/SgtWRC/status/1849736381465231834 When you're stopping in the middle of a live performance to profanely, profusely apologize for how bad your singing is, you might be in a little bit of trouble. https://twitter.com/PopSpectator/status/1849894794287280597 Did the third party debate organizer know Loomis would choke this badly on stage and provide a potential spark for a viral moment? I haven't a clue. If you ever wanted to prove the "no press is bad press" cliché to be valid, Loomis' vocal train wreck would be quite the textbook example. Now if you remember back to the MLB Home Run Derby, country music singer Ingrid Andress blew up all over the Internet for her awful national anthem performance. https://twitter.com/BenBrownPL/status/1813003736425590787?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1813003736425590787%7Ctwgr%5E97330ab9cfca2a3ba32b83b3c967759c9a2e6343%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whiskeyriff.com%2F2024%2F07%2F15%2Fingrid-andress-just-delivered-one-of-the-worst-national-anthem-performances-of-all-time-at-the-home-run-derby%2F The four-time Grammy nominee was decidedly not up to par, joining the likes of Carl Lewis and Fergie among other notables who have the dubious honor of singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" awfully at sporting events. To be fair to Andress, she was dealing with substance abuse problems and was drunk when she sang. Most people rallied around her when she checked herself into rehab shortly thereafter. Unless we get some more information about Loomis' physical state that reveals she was compromised, I'm gonna say that she easily clears the Ingrid Andress disaster. And the thing is, I've never heard of Loomis. I assumed it was because I'm getting too old. Not so much. She does have a music video for her song "Santa Baby" that has over 19,000 YouTube views since its release in November 2020. That's about as good as it gets... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvbRUMzCygk Additionally, Loomis has a modest 278 YouTube subscribers, along with social links to X/Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok in her YouTube profile that are all dead. I feel bad dunking on somebody, but if you're going to get the opportunity to sing the national anthem at any sort of notable gathering, you better bring it. While "The Star-Spangled Banner" isn't the easiest tune to belt out, ya gotta do better than that. Here's a silver lining for Loomis, since I'm sure she's feeling a little low: Andress' music listenership spiked 50% after her woeful national anthem rendition. Perhaps Loomis is in for a similar boost? It's just unclear to me whether she stopped making music a while ago, or if this debate performance was meant to be some return to form. More lost in my head than anything else as to why and/or how she was hired to ring in the third party debate.