Jamie Foxx has tried to defend his rendition of the National Anthem before the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight on Saturday, blaming a fault with his earpiece. The actor and singer was heavily criticising on social media for the performance which many described as a ‘butchering’ of the The Star Spangled Banner.

Jamie FoxxJamie Foxx performed the national anthem before the fight.

Speaking to Access Hollywood, Foxx addressed the performance and the subsequent social media backlash by first telling everybody to “calm down”.

”We had a little bit of a situation with our ear pieces,” Fox said. “The [ear] pack actually dropped off, so I couldn't, you know… I can't hear what's playing, so I just had to go on my own. Hopefully they understand. It's just the national anthem.”

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"I think a little bit was just people wanted to have something to talk about," the 47 year old added. "But everything's cool and the national anthem will be on my album and I'm gonna do whatever the hell I want to.”

Speaking in a separate interview on the ‘Ellen’ show on Tuesday, Foxx further explained the performance, telling the host, "My inner ears were out I can’t hear what the organ is doing with the big crowd. So some of it was a little off.”

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“But in the arena it killed.,” Foxx added “The telecast was a little off, but we still love America.” During the performance, actor Jake Gyllenhaal was caught on camera laughing with his friends in a clip that soon went viral.

Billed as the fight off the century, Saturday night saw the undefeated Floyd Mayweather face Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Mayweather won the fight via unanimous decision after 12 rounds.