Charlie Puth has defiantly responded to those who claim he is not the ideal choice to sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. On Sunday, the singer-songwriter was announced as a performer for Super Bowl LX in February alongside Coco Jones and Brandi Carlile, who will sing "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and "America the Beautiful," respectively. However, social media users were quick to criticize Puth's inclusion, with one X user wryly commenting, "Man, we've truly slipped since Whitney Houston sang at the Super Bowl in 1991. Charlie Puth? I'm afraid he won't give us the vocals we're used to."
Puth swiftly replied to the tweet, quoting it and stating, "I'll never claim to be as good a singer as Whitney Houston was. But I assure you, we're putting together a truly special arrangement in D major. It'll be one of my best vocal performances."
Puth, Jones, and Carlile are the latest musicians to be tapped for the Super Bowl stage, following the controversial announcement of Bad Bunny as the Halftime Show star in late September. The Puerto Rican rapper quickly became a polarizing selection, eliciting responses from House Speaker Mike Johnson and President Donald Trump, who labeled his booking as "absolutely ridiculous."
"I've never heard of him," Trump said. "I don't know who he is... I don't know why they're doing it. It's crazy. And then they blame it on some promoter they hired to pick up entertainment — I think it's absolutely ridiculous."
For its part, the NFL stood by Bad Bunny amid continued MAGA backlash. "It's carefully thought through," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. "I'm not sure we've ever selected an artist where we didn't have some blowback or criticism. It's pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people watching... We're confident it's going to be a great show. He understands the platform he's on, and I think it's going to be exciting and a moment of unity."
