Canadian Tenor's Apologies to the Black Community Are Actually Worse Than His Anthem Stunt

It seems Remigio Pereira is a sucker for hearing himself speak. Which is unfortunate, now that the rest of North America actually knows who he is.

The "lone wolf" member of Canadian-based opera group the Tenors humiliated himself—and all of Canada—last week when he altered the lyrics to "O Canada" to include "All Lives Matter" during the opening of the MLB All-Star Game in San Diego.

Pereira, who also held up an "All Lives Matter" sign in front of the crowd of 40,000 people, has since been kicked out of the group; the remaining three Tenors issued an apology insisting that he acted as a "lone wolf." He's likely a lone wolf in many respects, such as his belief that the Earth is flat and not round or that gravity "doesn't exist."

The rogue former Tenor has since apologized a few times over, but after listening to his apologies, I almost wish he hadn't.

In a cringeworthy video posted to his Facebook profile, he used the classic "I have black friends" rationale to convince people he's not racist.

"I would like to say, by no means am I racist. I have a biracial daughter, grew up in a multicultural environment where my best friend was black," he said, cementing his status as a parody of himself. "I grew up with friends from Laos, from Asia, people from all over the world. Those who know me know I'm not racist."

The whole statement was reminiscent of when presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump tried to downplay calling Mexicans rapists and criminals by tweeting a pic of himself eating a taco bowl.

But Pereira didn't stop there. He released a monologue on Soundcloud called "Black Lives Do Matter."

"I weep when I see videos of a man just trying to sell a CD, and he gets killed, murdered. Just like I weep if I see a cop gets killed because my cousin is a cop," he said. "I do not want to see anything happening to any of my black friends, musician friends."

The common theme in all of this is Pereira doesn't want anyone belonging to a demographic with which he's personally familiar to get killed.

For emphasis, he laid down this profound bit of wisdom:

"Black lives do matter. They most definitely do."

Pereira closed with a bunch of references to God.

"Not one person has the right over God's creation. And that is why everybody's life matters. I love you all."

Everybody's life may matter, but not everyone's opinion does. Pereira might want to consider that if he ever wants to perform opera with relative anonymity again.

Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.