NFL fans criticize Anthrax’s Joey Belladonna for Star-Spangled Banner at Seahawks game (Nov. 2, 2026)

Joey Belladonna, the 66-year-old singer of Anthrax, performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” before roughly 69,000 fans at Lumen Field in Seattle on Monday, November 2, 2026, ahead of the Seahawks’ ESPN “Monday Night Football” matchup against the Chicago Bears. Within hours, a wave of NFL viewers took to X to call the rendition one of the worst they had heard, longliverocknroll.it reported.

The criticism arrived fast and blunt. “Tonight’s National Anthem on Monday night football was awful!” one user wrote. “I don’t know who did the National Anthem but damn he sucked shit hurt my ears,” another added. “This is the worst anthem I’ve heard in awhile,” a third wrote. A fourth compared the singer to a fictional rock star: “Dude who sang the National Anthem sounded like Mark Wahlberg in Rockstar. That’s not a compliment.” Others wrote “Arrest this Anthem singer” and “Dude sang the national anthem in every key,” while one commenter called the performer “trash,” according to Metal Addicts and Blabbermouth.

Many of the commenters appeared unfamiliar with Belladonna’s music. He has fronted the thrash metal band Anthrax across two stints spanning more than four decades, and his voice appears on more than 10 albums that have sold a combined eight million copies worldwide.

69,000 in the Stadium, Then Criticism Online

Belladonna took the field at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington, on Monday night, November 2, delivering his rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the Seahawks-Bears game, which ESPN broadcast as part of “Monday Night Football.” The performance unfolded in front of approximately 69,000 spectators, but it was the viewers at home who reacted most sharply on social media.

Blabbermouth noted that some fans seemed unaware of who was singing. “I don’t know who did the National Anthem but damn he sucked,” one X user wrote, a comment that underscored the disconnect between the metal singer and a football audience that did not know Anthrax’s catalog.

Belladonna on Singing the Anthem Alone in a Stadium

Belladonna has sung the U.S. national anthem at several sporting events over the past few years, and he has spoken openly about why he accepts the invitations despite the pressure. In an interview with Panini Unwrapped, he said:

“I just love doing the anthem. People get off on it. And I really respect the game and the anthem itself, so it’s a pleasure to be able to be asked to be a part of that.”

Asked how singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in a stadium compares with performing for large heavy metal crowds, Belladonna said the anthem can be even more nerve-racking because the singer is completely alone:

“The anthem is even more tense, because you’re all by yourself, everything goes quiet, and there’s really no key to sing in. I just kind of go out there and just wing it, but I like to keep it traditional. But it is a very unnerving… Once it’s ten minutes before they give you the okay [to go out there and sing], it’s, like, ‘Woah!’ I’ve gotten nervous, but once you get going, you just focus on doing it.”

Pat Monahan and His Son Faced Similar Criticism Last Month

Belladonna is not the first musician to be roasted for a national anthem rendition at a major sporting event. Just last month, Train frontman Pat Monahan and his son received a wave of negative reactions after their own performance, Metal Addicts and Blabbermouth both noted. The pattern — a well-known singer, a massive televised stage, and unforgiving social media — has repeated within weeks.

From 1984 to 2010: Belladonna’s Two Stints With Anthrax

Belladonna was originally Anthrax’s lead singer from 1984 to 1992 and was part of the group’s classic lineup alongside Dan Spitz, Scott Ian, Frank Bello and Charlie Benante, a formation that reunited and toured in 2005 and 2006. His most recent return to the band was officially announced in May 2010, when he rejoined for the “Big Four” shows.

The reunion helped launch a new creative era beginning with 2011’s “Worship Music.” Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante told Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon: “I think the best decision we ever made was getting our relationship with Joey back and just kind of repairing it and putting everything aside and just being on the same page again and just making music again that really means a lot to us.”

Anthrax’s First Album in a Decade Arrived in September

The anthem controversy lands as Anthrax is fresh off a new release. The band returned with “Cursum Perficio,” its first studio album in a decade, released on September 18 through Megaforce in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast in Europe, Metal Addicts reported. The record follows 2016’s “For All Kings,” which reached the Top 10 of the Billboard 200.

Questions Fans Are Asking About the Anthem Backlash

Did Belladonna respond directly to the criticism? The reports available do not show a direct response from Belladonna to the social media backlash; his most recent on-record comments about the anthem come from the Panini Unwrapped interview, where he described the experience as tense but something he loves doing.

How long has Belladonna been singing with Anthrax? He was the band’s lead singer from 1984 to 1992, left, and then rejoined in May 2010 for the “Big Four” shows, remaining the frontman since.

Has this happened to other singers recently? Yes — last month, Train frontman Pat Monahan and his son were also blasted online for their national anthem performance, showing the backlash is not unique to Belladonna.

Belladonna has performed the anthem at a number of sporting events over the past several years, and he told Panini Unwrapped that he still respects the game and the anthem enough to keep accepting the invitations, even when 69,000 strangers are listening in silence.

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