Elsa/Getty ImagesNot very sporting of people to complain about Marc Anthony performing at the MBL All-Star Game this week, is it?
"You can't get more New York than me," the Big Apple-born pop star said today on Live! With Kelly and Michael in response to some nasty tweets and other complaints about the artist being chosen to sing "God Bless America" during Tuesday's game.
Because apparently complaining about performers with Latin roots singing during so-called all-American sporting events is a thing now.
"Shouldnt an AMERICAN be singing God Bless America?" complained one person, while another wrote, "Why is a Mexican, Marc Anthony, singing god bless america? Doesn't he know this is AMERICA's song? #ASG."
For the record, Anthony was born and raised in NYC's East Harlem by Puerto Rican-born parents.
"Something happened, I wanted to clarify," the salsa singer, whose album 3.0 drops next week, told Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan. "You know, me singing the national anthem, there was some statements made that people were upset that they would have somebody from another country sing the national anthem. But to set the record straight, I was born and raised in New York. You can't get more New York than me."
Incidentally, the national anthem (aka "The Star-Spangled Banner") was sung this year by American Idol winner Candice Glover. Anthony corrected himself a moment later.
"Is that true?" asked a wide-eyed Ripa, who joked that she and "live in a hole" but surely "three months from now we'll hear about it."
"Absolutely, it's a trending topic," Anthony assured her.
"I just want to set the record straight," he added. "And I'm more Puerto Rican than ever and I'm more New York than ever."
And singing either the national anthem (which Anthony has done before as well) or "God Bless America" is beyond nerve-racking, regardless.
"There's something so daunting," Anthony explained. "I was standing between home plate and the mound and you look out and no one can help you if anything goes wrong...I'm looking for the nearest exit...But it's the most gratifying as well. It's so risky, but it's just so gratifying."
"Why does anybody say yes?!" marveled Ripa.
"You say yes because of the honor, you can't deny that," Anthony said. "But then the day of, you're like, 'Why did I say yes to this?!' But you have to be some sort of ninja. There has to be some kind of recognition for someone who goes through this and survives it. It's scary."
Double the recognition for Anthony in this case, then.