Well, I’ll say this much for this weekend’s stunt pulled by the social media influencer and singer whose driver’s license name is Vanessa Hernández: I now know who or what a “Nezza” is.
For those of us who don’t keep up with many people whose talent includes the words “social media influencer,” I suppose this is the best she was going to do.
That being said, it’s still kind of difficult to reconcile the bit of fame that Nezza is enjoying with the reason why: Singing a version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before a Los Angeles Dodgers game on Saturday in Spanish in support of the L.A. anti-Trump rioters and the “No Kings” protests — and then hiding behind the fact that former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt approved it without mentioning why it was approved by FDR.
Nezza’s versions made the rounds along with a video taken surreptitiously of a Dodgers’ employee telling her not to do it in Spanish before the game.
“We are going to do the song in English today, so I’m not sure if that wasn’t relayed,” the employee said in the TikTok video. Nezza’s caption read: “So I did it anyway.”
It’s worth noting that the Dodgers are the same team that once held a “pride” month event with the anti-Catholic hedonist bigots at the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, so for them to reject an idea as too woke, it has to be particularly bad.
@babynezzapara mi gente ❤️ i stand with you♬ original sound – nezz
That’s her belting out “El Pendón Estrellado” before the game against the San Francisco Giants — something she’d later defend in a video where she noted that version was initially commissioned by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, according to The Washington Post.
Should she be banned from ever singing another MLB game anthem?
Saying she was “very shooken up and emotional,” she tearfully added, “I didn’t think I would be met with any sort of no, especially because we’re in L.A. and with everything happening.”
“But today out of all days, I just could not believe when [the Dodgers employee] walked in and told me ‘no.’ But I just felt like I needed to do it para mi gente [for my people].”
@babynezzai love you guys stay safe out there♬ original sound – nezz
Aside from the fact that this is an entitled social media diva doing things para sus cliquy-clics [for her clicky-clicks] as a way to further stoke violent tensions in the city where she was performing it, this is what the WaPo would call — in other circumstances — a claim that’s “missing context.”
First, about that version of “The Star-Spangled Banner”: As an AARP article that the Post linked to about it states, “El Pendón Estrellado” was not meant to be performed en los Estados Unidos, but in Spanish-speaking countries abroad as part of our foreign policy:
At the core of this good neighbor policy was an effort to present a positive image of the U.S. throughout the Americas through cultural exchange. To that end, the U.S. Department of State in 1945 requested submissions for translations of the “Star-Spangled Banner” into Spanish and Portuguese. The idea was to distribute these new versions to U.S. consulates so the anthem could be performed throughout Latin America in the countries’ native language.
Titled “El Pendón Estrellado,” the Spanish version of the anthem was written by Clotilde Arias, a Peruvian composer who worked in New York City writing radio jingles. One of her biggest hits was a Spanish translation of “Rum and Coca-Cola,” a lovely calypso song and a huge hit for the Andrews Sisters.
Second, even if that’s the case, notice that she’s not wearing United States regalia but instead a Dominican Republic T-shirt. She wasn’t singing it for the D.R., of course, she was singing it for U.S. fans. (It’s also worth noting the rioters she was singing it for are mostly in support of another Spanish-speaking country, Mexico.)
But then, she’s not singing it to rep anyone except illegal aliens. And, one last time for the Gen Z/late millennial crowd on TikTok that doesn’t seem to get this fact: An illegal immigrant has, by the nature of their immigration to this country, committed an illegal act that, in almost all cases, justifies their removal to that country and prohibits them from returning to America.
Now, if she doesn’t want to sing for Americans in English, that’s OK. She doesn’t have to stay here, nor does anyone else waving the United Flags of Benetton at the riots amid the rubble like these fine individuals:
Patriotism, professionalism and dignity in the face of assaults, threats, and disrespect.
America can be proud of its law enforcement. pic.twitter.com/TyFK1M1dj4
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) June 10, 2025
I assume that not only does she have money enough for a plane ticket to the D.R. but a pathway to stay there long term. (Or maybe not, given that she was born and raised in California.) To which I say: Go for it!
Sing “El Pendón Estrellado” to your heart’s dear content on the better half of Hispaniola to those who are legally in that country. Of course, you’d prove yourself to be a bit of a hypocrite if you did that, given that the Dominican Republic boosted border security earlier this year to clamp down on illegal immigration from always-crisis-ridden Haiti. (Will you learn the words to “La Bannière Étoilée” for those fans, Ms. Nezza?)
Why not? If this was “para mi gente,” you can be with su gente quite easily. That’s who you are performing for, after all, not the people in the United States who come to watch a baseball game.
My guess is probably the same as yours in terms of why she doesn’t do this, of course — but as for virtue-signaling value, she’s gotten 12.5 of her 15 minutes of fame right here.
In any event, Nezza was not kicked out of this game nor banned from any future Dodgers games by the team. Not that this matters; if this is her breakthrough to mainstream conversation as a “social media influencer,” my guess is her shelf-life won’t even match that of Fred Figglehorn or the Angry Video Game Nerd. Es una lástima.
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