Over the weekend, one Cleveland man surprised Wal-Mart shoppers in Osage Beach, Missouri, by belting out the national anthem over the intercom. Now, a video of James Fruits’ proud display of the patriotic tune has gone viral, receiving hundreds of thousands of views on social media platforms.
Missouri TV station KRCG 13 caught up with the crooner Monday to find out the story behind the song. Fruits said he was egged on by a friend on Facebook to make a video of himself singing our nation’s anthem in a Wal-Mart.
Originally, he sang the tune in the store’s flag aisle, but once some of the employees heard his vocal prowess, they insisted he move to the main intercom. The employees also bestowed Fruits with a $10 gift card and sweet Wal-Mart cape.
At the end of his “Star-Spangled Banner” rendition, Fruits rightly told his store audience, “God bless America.” And everyone cheered.
Watch the whole video below:
This article appears in Jul 5-11, 2017.
You know this will become a thing, and will happen every time I have to make a trip to the Mart. Because F Giant Eagle and their triple priced markups. So then I’ll have to stop because it’s appropriate to, even though, hey, we see this before every sporting event ever now and any other event with more than 3 people participating. I get the love of country, patriotism thing. I do. But at some point shouldn’t we just be allowed to go to the crappy WalMart and buy our cheap Chinese products with our hard earned overtaxed money in peace, without having to do this too? there are way better places to show patriotism, and way better ways to do so than over the phone at the checkout lines in the cheap import capital of the world.