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Nezza, sang “El Pendón Estrellado” (the United States national anthem in Spanish) at Dodger Stadium. [1]

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Date: 2025-06-16

On June 14, Vanessa Hernández, more commonly known as Nezza, sang “El Pendón Estrellado” (the official Spanish version of the United States national anthem commissioned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945) at Dodger Stadium.

According to Nezza, the Los Angeles Dodgers told her not to, citing the club’s usual standard practice of having anthem singers perform in English.

“We are going to do the song in English today,” an unidentified Dodgers employee told Nezza in a video she posted on TikTok. “I’m not sure if that wasn’t relayed.”

“I didn’t think I’d be met with any sort of no,” Nezza said in the later video. “Especially because we’re in L.A., and with everything happening. I’ve sang the national anthem many times in my life, but today, out of all days, I could not.”

“I just felt like I needed to do it. Para mi gente.”

I understand how she feels 100%.

A few years ago I received an email:

“We love your voice and your stories and want to use them for an American Sign Language Storybook Video, kind of a small movie with sign language, animation, music, voiceover, and close captions. The video would be presented at libraries and schools around the country, with the added choice to publish it as a children's book afterwards”.

I read that email, and I got so excited that I screamed and even cried a little. That night I dreamed of making the video and getting nominated for an academy award.

But when I was told how much I was going to get pay for the project, I got a bit disappointed. I got bills to pay, and their offer was not Academy Award winner salary.

But then I remember that when I came to this country at age 15, I used to stutter, didn’t know the language and I was undocumented, I didn’t have a voice. It took me a long time to get over my stutter, become an American citizen and learn to speak English with a sexy Latino accent. And now I was going to have the chance to have many kids around the world listen to my voice. Talk about making waves, of course I wanted to do the project.

“We love your voice” was the continued praised that I received during our emails and phone calls discussing the drafts of the story.

Finally, after months of rewrites we had a version of the story ready for recording.

I arrived at the recording studio and told my story; but after a couple of readings there was still something missing.

“Who are you telling this story to”? the audio engineer asked me after yet another uninspiring recording.

“To you, so you can record the story” I responded.

“Yes, but in your mind, who is your audience, as you tell the story.”

“Immigrant kids, like me when I was growing up, that don’t see themselves represented anywhere” I responded.

The sound engineer looked at me “then, don’t tell me the story, tell it to them.”

I closed my eyes, imagining myself in the middle of a classroom full of immigrant kids. Immediately, the story took a life of its own and the emotion poured from my lips.

When I finished telling the story, I wasn’t the only one with tears in my eyes.

After the recording I was told to go home and wait for an email with further information.

I spent the next couple of days daydreaming I was winning an Academy Award.

A couple of days later I got the email that I had been waiting for

“We have concerns about the CLARITY of your voice for the purpose of our project. After talking to an expert, that works with Americans with Disabilities, we decided to hire a trained actor to do the voice over instead of you. However, we would love it if you would do the voiceover narrator for our Spanish language version.”

That was not the response I had been expecting, the smile that had been on my face for days, was now replaced by anger and pain.

“They kept saying that they love my voice but now they want to hire someone else to do the voice for my story”

For context: In 2005 Jorge Drexler’s song, “Al otro lado del río,” included in the movie “The Motorcycle Diaries,” became the first Spanish-language song to ever win an Academy Award. But the organizers of the Oscars felt that Jorge wasn’t famous enough and instead of letting the singer songwriter perform his Oscar winning song, they invited Antonio Banderas to sing the song instead of him.

I have nothing against Antonio Banderas, we kind of look alike, he is a great actor, but not a very good singer.

So, when Jorge took the stage to receive his award, instead of giving an acceptance speech, he used that time on stage to sign his song at Capela. He wanted, no; he needed his voice to be heard.

I also needed my voice to be heard.

I declined their offer to narrate the story in Spanish. They never heard me speak Spanish in the first place, they just assumed my Spanish would be fine, but I came to this country at age 15 and have live here for over 30 years, I speak Spanish but with an English word every now and then.

I also refused to allow the replacement of my sexy Latino accent, because I didn’t want my story to sound like Al Pachino on Scarface.

“Say hello to my little friend.”

My email basically put an end to the project.

I might never make a video, or a movie, or win an academy award, but I continue telling my stories because every time I do, I imagine the immigrant kids and adult people of color and I can see their smiles as they hear my voice, I feel themselves represented for the first time ever. Those are the waves I want to make, to inspire people that look and sound like me to tell their stories, because like Nezza wanted to make clear, our stories matter, and our voices must be heard.

To listen to some of my stories please visit my web site:

NestorGomezStoryteller.com

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/16/2328329/-Nezza-sang-El-Pend-n-Estrellado-the-United-States-national-anthem-in-Spanish-at-Dodger-Stadium?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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