Charlie Puth has spoken out against critics who claim that he isn’t the best 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. But some on social media were quick to criticize Puth’s booking, including one who elicited a response from Puth himself.
“Man we’ve fallen from when Whitney Houston sang at the Super Bowl,” wrote one X user, referring to the late singer’s iconic rendition of the song in 1991. “Charlie Puth? He’s not gonna give us vocals I’m afraid.”
Puth was quick to respond, quoting the tweet and stating, “I’ll never claim to be as good of a singer as Whitney Houston ever was. But I assure you we’re putting a really special arrangement together- in D major. It’ll be one of my best vocal performances.”
Puth, Jones and Carlile are the latest musicians tapped to perform at the Super Bowl, following Bad Bunny’s announcement as the Halftime Show star in late September. The Puerto Rican rapper quickly became a controversial selection, coaxing responses from House Speaker Mike Johnson and President Donald Trump, who said that it’s “absolutely ridiculous” that he was booked.
“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 that are watching… We’re confident it’s going to be a great show. He understands the platform that he’s on, and I think it’s going to be exciting and a united moment.”
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