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Fury as World Series singer Rufus Wainwright changes national anthem lyrics in Trump protest READ MORE: Baseball fans go wild for 'the most beautiful woman on the planet' By OLIVER SALT, US ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Published: 20:53 GMT, 30 October 2025 | Updated: 20:55 GMT, 30 October 2025 World Series singer Rufus Wainwright sparked outrage on Wednesday night after changing the lyrics of the Canadian national anthem to throw shade at American President Donald Trump. Before the Toronto Blue Jays' showdown with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Wainwright took to the field in California to perform a rendition of 'O Canada.' Yet the Canadian-American artist left fans furious when he tweaked some of the lyrics in an apparent dig at Trump over his controversial '51st state' comments earlier this year. Instead of singing the usual lyrics of 'in all of us command', Wainwright instead changed it to 'that only us command.' And the controversial tweak did not go down well on social media. 'It’s not only changing the words, it’s how bad Rufus Wainwright sang the anthem,' Toronto Sun political columnist Brian Lilley posted on X. 'He’s a good singer normally but this was just awful. And stop bloody changing the words!' Rufus Wainwright sparked outrage after changing the lyrics of the Canadian national anthem The World Series singer made the tweak in an apparent dig at President Donald Trump Rufus Wainwright performed the Canadian National Anthem before Game 5 of the World Series 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/VCj14fUw6d — FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 29, 2025 BREAKING NEWS Rookie pitcher makes World Series history as Blue Jays take 3-2 lead over Dodgers Canadian sports personality Arash Madani also said: 'Oh, you know, just Rufus Wainwright out here butchering our national anthem at the World Series. Wow. What an abomination.' A third user commented: 'OMG these guys need to stop frigging changing the lyrics to 'Oh Canada' This is not their song, this is the National Anthem of [Canada]! Imagine if artists started changing the words to the Star Spangled Banner. This is beyond disrespectful at this point, it's bloody intentional.' 'This was horrible,' concluded a fourth. 'Stop changing the words!' While one simply said: 'I don’t know what that was, but it wasn’t the Canadian National anthem'. The controversy surrounding Wainwright came two days after Canadian singer JP Saxe was also heavily criticized over his 'embarrassing' rendition of his country's anthem. Instead of singing the traditional lyric 'Our home and native land,' he appeared to swap it for 'Our home on native land' much to the frustration of Canadian viewers. 'Shockingly embarrassing. Canada has a plethora of better singers that would've represented us properly,' one user brutally claimed on X. 'Im an American, and that was the WORST rendition of the Canadian Anthem I've ever heard!! MLB owes the Canadians an apology,' said another. After Saxe's national anthem controversy, the Dodgers went on to win one of the most epic games in World Series history, claiming a 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays in the bottom of the 18th inning. CaliforniaMLB Share or comment on this article: Fury as World Series singer Rufus Wainwright changes national anthem lyrics in Trump protest Add comment
