NFL fans were left furious watching Thursday Night Football as the Canadian national anthem was played by the Buffalo Bills.

The Bills were hosting the first game at their new $2.1 billion Highmark Stadium, facing the Detroit Lions in the first primetime Thursday night game of the new season.

Yet fans tuning in were surprised by an unusual break from tradition, as 'O Canada' was played by Toronto-based act Barenaked Ladies before actress and singer Auli'i Cravalho performed 'The Star-Spangled Banner'. 

The Bills decided to make the gesture to Canada despite the ongoing tensions between the two countries, with the team having a big fanbase across southern Ontario and Toronto, located just a two-hour drive from Buffalo.

But while it was a largely popular decision among local fans, it was not well received among many NFL fans elsewhere, who were bemused to hear Canada's anthem being played before a game played in the United States. 

And the shocking performance of the song also drew considerable heat from those watching.  

Former NFL star Taylor Lewan wrote: 'We doing the Canadian National Anthem for TNF?'

'The Canadian national?? In an NFL football game in America?? We’re compromised,' another user wrote, as others branded it 'embarrassing'. 

Another said: 'Why are we singing the Canadian National Anthem during TNF? Are we that weak?'.

Others asked: 'Why on earth are we singing Canadian national anthem? Bills aren’t Canadian team. Canadian totally disrespects the US. Get woke, go broke.'

A further comment added: 'Why are they singing the [expletive] Canadian national anthem last I checked Buffalo was in America.'  

And the performance itself was also slammed, with the shocking rendition savaged online.

'They butchered the anthem, wow,' read one comment. Another said: 'I don’t even care they did the Canadian National Anthem at the game… but that was a really bad rendition, right? I’m not imagining things… that was awful.'

By contrast, the stirring rendition of the American national anthem was met by thunderous applause and fireworks around the new Bills stadium. 

This isn’t the first time the Bills have played both anthems during games at Orchard Park. The Bills under late owner Ralph Wilson once hosted an annual Canadian fan appreciation game, which was scheduled near Canadian Thanksgiving, which falls on the second Monday of October.

The featured outings were discontinued about 20 years ago, and before the team played a series of annual regular-season games in Toronto over a six-year span, ending in 2013.

The NHL’s Buffalo Sabres have had both the Canadian and American anthems performed before each game no matter the opponent in a tradition that began with their inception in 1970. The Bills and Sabres are now both owned by Terry Pegula.

During the NHL playoffs this spring, hockey fans memorably chimed in en masse by singing “O Canada” when anthem singer Cami Clune’s microphone stopped working.

The Sabres and Bills rely on Canadians to attend their games. Though recent numbers aren’t available, Canadians have made up as much as 15% of the Bills season-ticket base. Meantime, thousands of Canadians have filled the Sabres arena especially when the Toronto Maple Leafs or Montreal Canadiens are playing.

Border crossings in Buffalo, however, have dropped at similar rates to other U.S. communities neighboring Canada since President Donald Trump returned to office with remarks about making Canada the 51st state. The nations are now in the midst of a trade war, with Trump antagonizing Canadians even further by recently using an executive order to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America.

Canadian residents made 25% fewer return border crossings and spent about $2.4 billion (CA$3.3 billion) less on travel to the U.S. in 2025 than they had the year before, according to Canada’s national statistical agency, Statistics Canada.