AnthemsFans petition Obama to make R. Kelly “Ignition (Remix)” U.S. national anthem

R. Kelly’s Ignition (Remix) recently turned ten years old, and some fans of the artist have decided that a nice way to celebrate the song’s success would be to change the national anthem of the United States to the R&B classic.

A White House petition, filed on the White House Web site, is calling for Obama to “recognize the need for a new national anthem, one that even a decade after its creation, is still hot and fresh out the kitchen.”

The song, which debuted on 22 January 2003, was a big hit as Kelly mentions “it’s the freaking weekend” and that he is “having some fun.”

Huffington Postreports that the petition has gathered 2,000 signatures as of 8 March. In order to receive a response from Obama’s administration, the petition would need at least 100,000 signatures, although in the past the administration has ignored petitions that reached that mark but were not considered serious or were considered offensive.

Other off-beat petitions included:

• a petition  demanding the  deportation of anyone who has signed a petition for his state to be withdrawn from the United States
• a petition to allow members of the U.S. armed forces to put their hands in their pockets while on or off duty
• a petition  for a Death Star to be made, which actually drew a response from the administration, which stated fiscal impracticality among the many reasons the project will not happen

One petition that broke the 100,000 mark and got a serious response was a petition for all cell phones to be unlocked and used by any service provider. The practice became illegal last month, and now consumer advocates are concerned that wireless providers will sue individual customers who unlock their phones, although phone companies are unlikely to do so. One White house official supports the practice.