German Tennis Players Serenaded With Nazi Anthem (VIDEO)

Women’s tennis seems to be the focal point these days for a ton of social controversy. There has to be some reason to attend. The U.S. bested the Germans in the quarterfinals of The Fed Cup, which is an international tennis tournament pitting nation against nation in a test of country club sports prowess. Listen closely. Applause.

Prior to a key match between Alison Riske of the U.S. and Andrea Petkovic of Germany, the Maui tennis event center trotted out an operatic singer who busted into the Nazi-era version of the German National Anthem, including the oft-quoted controversial line: Deutschland, Deutschland ueber alles. That translates roughly to, this is a wicked bad time for non-Aryans. The current anthem replaced that line and a few others with homages to trees and birds and luxury sports cars. 

The Germans and Petkovic were not amused.

“I thought it was the epitome of ignorance, and I’ve never felt more disrespected in my whole life, let alone in Fed Cup, and I’ve played Fed Cup for 13 years now. It is the worst thing that has ever happened to me.”

Ease up there, Prom Night Carrie. Embarrassing? Yes. But an honest mistake from a grown man who sings opera. Clearly, everybody still considers Germans to be secret or not so secret Nazis. It wasn’t that long ago. We abolished slavery eighty years earlier in the U.S. and we’re still paying for it in tired Oscars speeches. You slaughtered six million Jews and a handful of gypsies, and that was on top of declaring war on the world. Let’s put that “worst thing ever” into context. 

You need to learn to laugh at yourself more. Gassing all your comedians probably didn’t help in that regard.