Jets Anthem Contest Was Rigged, Local Says
It was just last week that we were telling you to vote for Nicole Hidalgo, the Gerritsen Beach resident competing in a people’s vote contest to sing the National Anthem at an upcoming Jets game. Well, apparently Hidalgo has been cheated!
The Daily News reports:
Nicole Hidalgo, 24, of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, said she lost out on her chance to sing the national anthem at the team’s Oct. 23 home game because contest winner Gil Ramos was paying phantom voters.
“I had steam coming out of my ears,” said Hidalgo who was told Thursday Ramos would be singing at fan appreciation day.
“They don’t run their contest the right way. I really thought they were going to do the right thing,” she said.
The Jets asked fans to “like” online videos of Hidalgo and three other finalists singing the patriotic song in an empty Meadowlands Stadium in June and posted results on Facebook.
Hidalgo said she noticed that Ramos got “likes” from fake profiles during the week-long fan voting period, which ended Friday, and messaged them asking how much they charged for votes.
When the phony voters replied with a different price range – including 500 votes for $30 – Hidalgo gave team officials the heads up. The Jets declined to make a ruling and insisted Ramos won fair and square, she said.
Time to change up that J-E-T-S chant to F-U-C…. you know what? Nevermind.
