Video of 8-year-old's national anthem performance at Pacers game draws millions of social media views
A social media video of a young girl's performance of the national anthem prior to the tipoff of a recent Indiana Pacers game continues to draw millions of views.
Kinsley Murray stood at center court inside the Pacers' home arena Feb. 26 wearing a patriotic dress and white gloves and delivered her rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
The Pacers posted a video of her pregame performance on the team's TikTok account, and the video had gotten more than 23 million views and 2.2 million likes as of Friday evening.
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"The passion. the outfit. this anthem performance was unmatched." the Pacers captioned the post. Murray has performed the national anthem at hundreds of sporting events over the years.
She also performed "O Canada" before singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" Monday.
A social media user identifying himself as a school teacher and Kinsley's father, Shafer Murray, said she performed at a Washington Huskies basketball game in early 2022.
In 2021, Kinsley gained attention for her national anthem performance before the start of a Gonzaga women's basketball game.
"I love to honor our country," Kinsley, who was 6 years old at the time, told KREM-TV. "The louder the roar, the better I get."
The social media reaction to Kinsely's latest performance varied widely. Some offered their applause, while others voiced criticism.
Some defended the young performer and pushed back against comments some viewed as negative.
"I watched that video and seeing all of the disgusting comments, all the hatred, all the bully comments to that girl is absolutely atrocious," TikTok user Midnight Michaelson wrote. "I would like to see everybody come on here now and tell you how sorry I am and how apologetic you are for attacking this little girl."
The New Orleans Pelicans host the Pacers Friday night. Indiana entered Friday's game seventh in the Eastern Conference standings with a 34-26 record.
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