Backlash is brewing in France over the decision by French-Canadian singer and songwriter Nina Tonji to alter the words of France’s national anthem, “La Marseillaise,” before singing it to a stadium full of people.
Appearing at an NFL game Sunday between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Saints at the Stade de France in Paris, Tonji sang a slightly modified version of “La Marseillaise” just before the game.
Nina Tonji performs the national anthem of France live from @StadeFrance
@NFLFrance
PITvsNO on NFL Network
Stream on @NFLPlus https://t.co/1JBfVCNsfz— NFL (@NFL) October 25, 2026
According to Fox News, Tonji changed the song lyrics “Qu’un sang impur abreuve nos sillons!” to “Qu’un sang uni abreuve nos sillons!” in what the network described as a likely “political” move.
The original meaning of the lyrics was “May impure blood water our furrows/fields.”
“In the revolutionary context of La Marseillaise, ‘impure blood’ referred to enemies and traitors – particularly French immigrants fighting alongside foreign armies,” according to Fox News.
The meaning of the remixed line was “May united blood water our furrows/fields.”
“Replacing impur (‘impure’) with uni (‘united’) changes the meaning of the passage from a call for enemy blood to nourish France’s soil into an appeal for national unity and solidarity that includes immigrants to nourish France’s soil,” Fox News noted.
In other words, Tonji altered France’s national anthem so that instead of being, in part, about violently excluding foreign enemies, it became instead about finding unity with foreigners and immigrants.
The outrage has been especially loud on social media.
Yves Bourdillon, a prominent journalist for the French financial and economic newspaper Les Echos, wondered in a post published to the social media site X how Tonji would react if someone altered Canada’s national anthem.
“[I]t would be interesting to see the look on her face if we rewrote the Canadian anthem,” he wrote in French, according to a translation from X.
La chanteuse canadienne Nina Tonji s’est cru autorisée à changer les paroles de la Marseillaise en la chantant hier lors du premier match de NFL en France, car elle n’aime pas le mot “impur” (qui à l’époque n’avait aucune signification raciale, il désignait les ennemis, traitres, aristos, etc). Elle l’a remplacé par le mot “uni”, qui n’a aucun sens, puisque censé être positif (nous sommes tous unis, tout) alors qu’il s’agit quand même du sang d’ennemi. Bref, il serait intéressant de voir la tête qu’elle ferait si on réécrivait l’hymne canadien, dont voici la version suggérée par Canard Hirsute, vu que les références à la religion et aux ancêtres sont déplaisantes (je joins aussi le texte authentique);
Ô Canada !
Terre de nos amis,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons durables !
Car ton bras sait porter des tracts épais
Il sait porter croix et croissant !
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillantes intégrations.
Et ta valeur, de wokisme trempée,
Protégera nos communautés et nos joies.
Protégera nos communautés et nos joiesversion authentique
Ô Canada !
Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux !
Car ton bras sait porter l’épée,
Il sait porter la croix !
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
Protégera nos foyers et nos droit— Yves Bourdillon (@yvesbourdillon) October 26, 2026
Mathieu Bock-Côté, a widely known intellectual, sociologist, and media personality who’s reportedly famous in both Canada and France, suggested in an X post that Tonji doesn’t know how to sing and doesn’t respect France’s national anthem.
“First, they could choose someone who knows how to sing,” he wrote in an X post written in French, according to an X translation. “Second, that person could respect the spirit of the Marseillaise, the traditional way of singing it.”
“Third, she could avoid modifying the lyrics of the national anthem as if it belonged to her, as if she had the right to do so,” he added.
Fox News suggested in its reporting that the NFL could prevent future scenarios like this by forcing “artists to sign binding contracts that demand they perform the songs [they’re assigned to sing] as written.”
All this comes days after American NBA star LeBron James disrespected America’s own national anthem.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Singer Alters National Anthem Lyrics Before NFL Game to Send Pro-Immigrant Message appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.