Actor and singer Leslie Odom, Jr., has been chosen to sing American favorite “America The Beautiful” for Super Bowl LII, a report says.
The game is set to kick off on February 4 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Odom joins pop singer Pink, who has been tagged to sing the national anthem, and Justin Timberlake, who is set to perform the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Odom is best known as one of the original cast members of the hit Broadway musical, “Hamilton.” He was the winner of the Best Actor in a Musical at the 2016 Tony Awards and a Grammy winner, Variety reported.
Odom had recently vacated his role in the musical, “Hamilton,” when the cast mounted a protest during the performance to personally attack Vice President Mike Pence who had turned up at a November 18, 2016, performance of the show.
From the stage, actor Brandon Victor Dixon, who replaced Odom in the role of Aaron Burr, lectured the vice president on “diversity.”
But, even as the actors banded together to attack Pence over his purported lack of diversity, casting directors for “Hamilton” had posted a casting call telling white actors that they need not apply because only minorities would be cast for the show.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.