Edmonton Oilers fans booed the crap out of the American national anthem
Tensions between the United States and Canada have been ramping up recently, so much so that Edmonton Oilers fans decided to get involved.
The Oilers returned to Rogers Place for their first home game in nearly a month on Tuesday night as the Anaheim Ducks rolled into the Alberta capital. Booing the U.S. national anthem has become commonplace in Canadian NHL arenas ever since President Donald Trump threatened Canada with tariffs.
Those tariffs finally went into effect today and the Oilers faithful made it very clear how they feel about things. As the first few lines of the “Star-Spangled Banner” were sung, a loud array of boos and jeers were heard.
Loud booing for the U.S Anthem in Edmonton tonight #Oilers pic.twitter.com/xNxjcFLU2v
— Preston Hodgkinson (@NHLHodgkinson) March 5, 2025
It was not an ideal night for this kind of booing as the Oilers were hosting their South Asian Celebration game and had a special guest to perform the anthems. It can’t be easy to perform under such circumstances, but the Rogers Place crowd made sure to give a rousing ovation to her as she finished up the anthem.
This does mirror what Canadian sports fans have doing in other NHL rinks across the country recently as well as during a Toronto Raptors NBA game. The anthem was also booed during last weekend’s WWE event in Toronto.
Edmonton fans followed up the American anthem with a thunderous sing-a-long to the Canadian anthem.
Well that was ugly… but the rendition of O Canada by the #Oilers faithful sure wasn’t.
They followed up the U.S. anthem booing with a passionate sing-a-long tonight pic.twitter.com/4KT7QKpJIU
— Preston Hodgkinson (@NHLHodgkinson) March 5, 2025
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Canadian sports fans are not a fan of Trump’s tariffs on the country as well as the narrative that Canada will somehow become the 51st American state. The 78-year-old President has peddled that narrative since December and has even brought up Oilers legend Wayne Gretzky’s name when speaking about it, which has drawn criticism to The Great One.
Until relations change for the better, the booing looks like it is here to stay.