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Ignoring Racist Tweets, 11-Year-Old Nails National Anthem ... Again

Sebastien de la Cruz, known as San Antonio's Little Mariachi, sings the national anthem before the start of Game 4 of the NBA finals on Thursday.
Frederic J. Brown
/
AFP/Getty Images
Sebastien de la Cruz, known as San Antonio's Little Mariachi, sings the national anthem before the start of Game 4 of the NBA finals on Thursday.

Something pretty magical happened at last night's NBA finals: Sebastien de la Cruz, the 11-year-old who sang the national anthem on Tuesday, was back on Thursday to prove his critics wrong.

Following his first performance, de la Cruz was barraged on Twitter with racist remarks, questioning why a young, Latino boy in a charro outfit should be singing The Star Spangled Banner. (We won't repeat any of the slurs, but The Daily Dot has a collection.)

With a maturity that belies his young age, de la Cruz told KENS-TV that he was ignoring those tweets.

"My father and my mama told me you should never judge people by how they look," he said.

The Spurs responded by inviting him back for Game 4 last night. He was introduced by San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, and President Obama also previewed his performance via Twitter.

De la Cruz delivered a stellar rendition — in his mariachi outfit — to rousing applause. Watch:

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.

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