Uproar settles down as Bears, FOX find way around controversy
Turns out Sunday's football stage is big enough for Lee DeWyze and Jim Cornelison.
Rumors that DeWyze was singing the national anthem had bloggers besides themselves on Tuesday and DeWyze himself added to the speculation with a few mystery tweets of his own.
The Bears ended the controversy late Tuesday when they announced Cornelison will sing the Star Spangled Banner while DeWyze will preform at halftime when the Bears host the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field on Sunday.
According to a tweet from the Chicago Bears:
“Lee DeWyze fans. He'll be performing at halftime of the game because the league insisted Cornelison sing the anthem. All is good.”
Earlier in the day, several reports said the network had picked last season's “American Idol” winner, DeWyze of Mount Prospect, to sing the national anthem.
Dewyze, via his Twitter account at “National Anthem at home. Yes. Go Bears.”
He added to the mystery by posting, “Wow. Afternoon everyone” at about 3 p.m. Tuesday on his Twitter account.
Around 9 p.m. Tuesday, DeWyze appeared to acknowledge the controversy by posting “Thanks to all who really support me and my MUSIC. Thank you and I really do appreciate it, I'll have an update for you soon. Love you guys.” He followed that up with a post that read “Go Bears”
Bears fans who have a preference for Cornelison, who sang last weekend before the Bears-Seahawks game, or who perhaps are clinging to superstition and don't want change, retweeted or posted negative comments on websites critical of the apparent decision to replace Cornelison with DeWyze.
Cornelison's powerful performance last Sunday has become the stuff of legend in just a few days. One YouTube clip has gotten almost 1 million views.
Fox will televise the NFC championship game at 2 p.m. Sunday and apparently gets to make the call as to the national anthem singer, and not the Chicago Bears.
The network has a history of promoting its upcoming show, “American Idol” on its football broadcasts — last season, former “Idol” winner Kris Allen sang the anthem before the Saints-Vikings game in New Orleans.
On Tuesday, bloggers jumped into the fray. One, thefootballgirl.com, wrote: “There's just something about FOX making this decision that rubs fans the wrong way. Selecting the national anthem singer should be part of the home-field advantage ... if FOX wanted to bring the best of IDOL's talent pool to Soldier Field on Sunday, they'd surely be marching out Jennifer Hudson.”
That level of discussion reached DeWyze's fans and local supporters who posted comments and tweets in support of the local singer.
DeWyze's friend, Brian Friedopfer, said DeWyze's performance shouldn't be controversial.
“Listen, I'm a Bears guy, but I don't think who sings the national anthem will decide who wins that game,” Friedopfer said Tuesday. “That makes no sense.”