Well, the National Basketball Association and the Los Angeles Lakers said goodbye to superstar Kobe Bryant last night, and to get the farewell party started at the Staples Center, Flea was called upon to supply the National Anthem.
And the Red Hot Chili Pepper delivered a bass-only rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” that, oddly, had a bit of dubstep to it. Flea is getting killed for it this morning, and maybe he deserves it. But we’re looking on the bright side, and that’s that Flea didn’t bring along Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis to supply vocals. We don’t think any of the words to the anthem rhyme with “California”, so he probably wasn’t interested.
Afterwards, Flea defended the performance to TMZ: “I rocked that shit”, he says. Watch him get busy below.
Maybe when the Celtics start up their playoff run and march to the Eastern Conference title, they can invite Tom Hamilton or Ken Casey to show Flea how it’s done.