Everlast Explains Singing “America The Beautiful” Instead Of “Star Spangled Banner” At UFC 216
The United States’ are still reeling from the horrific shootings last week in Las Vegas that saw 59 people murdered and over 500 people injured.
This past weekend at UFC 216, the musician known as Everlast performed America The Beautiful to open the UFC 216 pay-per-view broadcast. The musical great says it was the UFC President who called him to perform at the event.
“I love my country, and I love the anthem, all that, whatever,” Everlast said to MMA Junkie. “But it just seemed like this was a little more healing. The ‘crown thy good with brotherhood,’ I like that sentiment right now just a little bit better, considering there was a war zone here like five days ago. I don’t need to talk about bombs. That’s just how I felt. I hope I made the right decision. I feel good about it. I feel like it may have opened up a little room in people’s hearts to start healing.”
Everlast chose to play America The Beautiful at the event instead of the Star Spangled Banner.
Despite performing in front of millions of fans over the years, the musician said that he felt really nervous performing this past Saturday Night.
“I played the song probably 310 times in the last three days, no joke,” Everlast said. “The crowd didn’t scare me. The song didn’t scare me. (But) the moment made me nervous.”
At UFC 216, the promotion honored many of the first responders who helped the victims in the shooting, as well as some of those victims themselves.
