An 11-year-old boy's rendition of the national anthem at Game 3 of the NBA finals brought the usual appreciative applause Tuesday, but outside AT&T Center in San Antonio, his performance brought a darker reaction from some posters on social media -- and eventually an online backlash against their racist comments. See the performance by Sebastien De La Cruz Here's a sampling of some of the unkind tweets that went flying around the Internet about Sebastien de la Cruz: -- "Why they got a Mexican kid singing the national anthem -___-" from Daniel Gilmore. -- "How you singing the national anthem looking like an illegal immigrant" from Andre Lacey, proud father and firefighter from Augusta, Georgia.
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Sebastien de la Cruz, 11, sang the national anthem at NBA finals on Tuesday
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Racists comments spread via Twitter after the Mexican-American boy's performance
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Sebastien stands resilient: "I'm a proud American and live in a free country. It's not hurting me."
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Father says he isn't "taken the comments personally, can't satisfy everyone"
For some @placeholder, the incident was just the latest sign of a persistent problem they face: being treated as outsiders in their own country.