Fergie Responds To Infamous National Anthem Performance

Fergie finally came out to address her strange, largely-mocked National Anthem performance during Sunday's NBA All-Star Game. Calling herself a "risk-taker" by nature, the singer/songwriter believes she took a chance on this bold performance to "try something special," but this unique rendition wasn't received quite as well as she hoped. Nevertheless, Fergie seems to have a good attitude about the flop, and overall seems to be proud to have honored the country with the performance.

Fergie's comment to TMZ is the first time the musician addressed the flubbed performance publicly. The slow, jazzy, and bluesier take on "The Star-Spangled Banner" is one that was met with more than a fair share of snickers, particularly by the players and those watching the game. The audience at least tried to keep it a straight face throughout the performance, but it wasn't long before the crowd, including Jimmy Kimmel in attendance, were seen cracking up. Seemingly meant to make the National Anthem steamier and a little sexier, which is certainly an interesting concept, the footage has gone viral for all the wrong reasons. It's been called things like "awful," "terrible," to "one of the worst National Anthems" in the U.S. history. Those are certainly not the reviews you'd like to receive after you perform in front of millions of people.

Nevertheless, Fergie is certainly taking the whole thing in stride, it seems. And if you haven't seen the footage yourself, you can see it below. Be sure to watch it somewhere where you won't get a bunch of dirty looks for giggling your head off, though. Just saying.

This is not the first time Fergie has performed the song. The Black Eyed Peas singer also previously sung the patriotic tune in front of the Obamas in 2009, though that particular performance didn't draw the same ire as this one. In any case, they say any publicity is good publicity, so that's something Fergie hopefully takes to heart.

Fergie recently released her second solo album, Double Dutchess, this past September. It was around that same time that the pop musician announced that she was separating from her husband, Josh Duhamel, who were married back in 2009. They share one son together, four-year-old Axl Jack. Currently, Fergie hosts Fox's singing competition series The Four, which premiered in January. To add to her troubles, the competition series hasn't been met lovely remarks since its debut. Luckily, it was renewed for a second season last week. So Fergie isn't going anywhere.