March 6, 2013 10:01

Petition asks for R Kelly's 'Ignition (Remix)' to be made US national anthem

People beg Barack Obama to ditch 'The Star-Spangled Banner'

Photo: PA Photos

A petition has been launched in the US asking the White House to adopt R Kelly's classic single 'Ignition (Remix)' as the nation's new national anthem.

As the Huffington Post reports, fans have filed the petition on the administration's website and already have 2,000 signatures from people who are eager to see R Kelly's party anthem replace 'The Star-Spangled Banner'. However, they will need 100,000 signatures by April 2 for the White House to respond to the request.

"We, the undersigned, would like the Obama administration to recognise the need for a new national anthem," says the form. "One that even a decade after its creation, is still hot and fresh out of the kitchen.

"America has changed since Francis Scott Key penned our current anthem in 1814," it continues. "Since then, we have realised that after the show, it's the afterparty, and that after the party, it's the hotel lobby, and - perhaps most importantly - that 'round about four, you've got to clear the lobby, at which point it's strongly recommended that you take it to the room and freak somebody."

It concludes: "President Obama: we ask you to recognise the evolution of this beautiful country and give us an anthem that better suits the glorious nation we have become." The petition can be signed here.

R Kelly released his 11th studio album 'Write Me Back' in June of last year. In November 2012, meanwhile, he announced plans to write a prequel book to his hip-hop opera Trapped In The Closet in addition to adapting the project into a Broadway musical.

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