Toronto Blue Jays fans prepping to watch Game 5 of the World Series were treated to an interesting rendition of the Canadian national anthem.
Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright got the mic at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and messed up the lyrics in both French and English. The 52-year-old singer was born in New York, but does hold Canadian citizenship.
Singing the bilingual version of “O Canada,” the anthem singer managed to get the lyrics wrong in both French and English. He sang “True patriot love that only us can command” instead of “True patriot love in all of us command,” and then followed that up with multiple mistakes in the French portion of the anthem.
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
Of course, Blue Jays fans had a field day with this one as they immediately took to social media to air their complaints with Wainwright’s interesting performance. Many were baffled by how a singer could get the lyrics so wrong during such a big event like the World Series.
Others commented that it was unique to see a bilingual version of the anthem even attempted for a game in L.A.
The good news: They’re singing the Canadian National Anthem in English and French
The bad news: The guy doesn’t know the lyrics
— Elias Makos (@eliasmakos) October 29, 2025
This wouldn’t be the first time that a singer at Dodger Stadium drew criticism from fans, as plenty of people criticized J.P. Saxe’s rendition of O Canada before Game 3.
How the hell does @MLB pick anthem singers? Especially for the Canadian anthem. Tonight’s (Game 5) is screwing up the lyrics in both languages.
There is no excuse for not doing it right.#WorldSeries
— Jason Rice (@jdrice) October 29, 2025
The Jays must have taken the mistakes personally, as they hit back-to-back home runs on the first two pitches of the game, off the bats of Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.