The mishap occurred Sunday during the U.S. Embassy in Belgium\u2019s celebration marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence<\/a>.<\/p>\n Held at the Parc du Cinquantenaire, the event drew high-profile attendees including U.S. Ambassador Bill White, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte<\/a>. The program featured a towering five-tiered cake, a ceremonial flyover, fireworks and performances by the Zac Brown Band, a gospel choir and Wilkins.<\/p>\n After belting out a cover of \u201cSweet Child O\u2019 Mine,\u201d Wilkins took the stage in front of what appeared to be thousands of people for her rendition of the \u201cStar-Spangled Banner<\/a>.\u201d But she quickly encountered a \u201chuge\u201d technical issue: her microphone wasn\u2019t working, Politico\u2019s Gerardo Fortuna reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Footage shared by the reporter captures Wilkins singing on a large screen, though her voice cannot be heard from the crowd. She briefly appears to inspect her microphone before the camera cuts away from the singer.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe that\u2019s the karaoke version,\u201d someone standing behind Fortuna reportedly said.<\/p>\n Ambassador White later called Wilkins back on stage to try again, telling her, \u201cThis microphone works!\u201d The second attempt appeared to go off without a hitch.<\/p>\n Wilkins, 27, also performed the national anthem at last week\u2019s kickoff ceremony for President Donald Trump\u2019s Great American State Fair <\/a>on the National Mall. Her appearance was announced after several artists\u2014including Morris Day and The Commodores<\/a>\u2014withdrew from the event, some citing its political associations.<\/p>\n In the lead-up to the event, the Nashville-based singer pushed back on concerns that her performance could pose an ethics conflict due to her relationship with a prominent administration official.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been a country music artist for years now,\u201d she wrote on X. \u201cI was invited to sing this anthem on my own accord, as I have been many other places throughout my career.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that she was not being paid for the gig and insisted that it was not funded by taxpayers. <\/p>\n \u201cI’m no longer accepting false narratives and total sham accusations that diminish my hard work and earned accomplishments,\u201d Wilkins continued.<\/p>\n Freedom 250, the public-private partnership established by Trump that is organizing the fair, has received $80 million in public funding, according to NOTUS<\/a>. Congress had previously created a bipartisan commission to oversee celebrations for the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n Wilkins is no stranger to controversy. Last year, she raised eyebrows after MS NOW reported that her boyfriend, FBI Director Kash Patel, had assigned her an FBI SWAT team<\/a> to serve as a security detail.<\/p>\n Wilkins is now suing the outlet, accusing it of \u201cknowingly or recklessly\u201d pushing \u201cfalse allegations.\u201d<\/p>\n Patel\u2019s time in office has been marked by repeated controversies, from mass firings at the bureau<\/a> to questions about his use of a government plane for personal travel<\/a>. He has repeatedly dismissed concerns, emphasizing that he is complying with the law and that he remains focused on his duties.<\/p>\n The Independent has reached out to the U.S. Embassy in Belgium for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,61018,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-665194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-international-relations","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Alexis](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-06-28T193953Z_1909130000_RC273MAKIGGX_RTRMADP_3_USA-INDEPENDENCE-BELGIUM.JPG\")
Alexis Wilkins, a country musician and girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, fell victim to an on-stage glitch while performing the national anthem in Belgium (Reuters)<\/p>\n![\"After](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-06-28T193832Z_1372546463_RC273MAF6KP6_RTRMADP_3_USA-INDEPENDENCE-BELGIUM.JPG\")
After the on-stage glitch, Wilkins was invited to sing the national anthem again. This time, it appeared to go off without a hitch (Reuters)![\"Thousands](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2283236587.jpeg\")
Thousands of people appeared to be in attendance at Sunday\u2019s celebration in Brussels, Belgium, photos show (BELGA MAG\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n