The Time After Time singer performed the song - entitled Star
Spangled Banner - after a minute's silence for 9/11 victims at the
US Open women's semi-finals, between Serena Williams and Caroline
Wozniacki, last Saturday night.
The faux pas is colloquially known in the industry as 'an
Aguilera' after star Christina Aguilera fluffed the song before an
audience of 100 million at the U.S.Super Bowl, earlier this
year.
Unfortunately, Lauper messed up the same line.
Wearing a Statue of Liberty dress, she sang: Whose broad stripes
and bright stars, through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts, we
watched as our flag was still streaming'.
The correct line is: 'Whose broad stripes and bright stars,
through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so
gallantly streaming.'
Viewers of the performance duly took to social networking site
Facebook and micro-blogging site Twitter to criticise the singer,
claiming it was a minor national embarrassment.
In response, Lauper took to her own Twitter page to write: "Whew,
I just did the anthem for the US open. It was an awesome
experience,' she wrote.
"I got choked up in the middle remembering 9/11. The moon shone
done on us and I tried to say a prayer at the same time. I hope I
didn't mess up too bad. I wanted it to be comforting."
Lauper, who is a long-standing supporter of the lesbian and gay
community, recently opened a homeless centre in NYC for LGBT
youths.
