Though the NFL has decided to pull its now-infamous “End Racism” endzone slogan, it has been and is continuing to face fire from fans who are furious that it plays the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” generally known as the “Black National Anthem” before games. Furious commenters have demanded that the league pull the song.
As background, the song was originally a poem written by an NAACP leader named James Weldon Johnson in the late 1800s, and it soon transformed into a hymn played to music that was composed by Weldon’s brother, John Rosamond Johnson. The NAACP made the song its official song after World War I, in 1919.
Then, in 2020, the NFL decided to start playing the song before games as an anti-racism signal following the death of George Floyd and riots over his death. It has since kept the song going, and will play it before Super Bowl 59. A Louisiana born singer named Ledisi will perform the pre-game song at the Super Bowl.
Commenters on X are furious about the song’s continued use by the NFL. Back in September, for example, conservative X personality Nick Sortor said, “Why has the NFL replaced our National Anthem with the so-called “BLACK” national anthem?! We have ONE national anthem, and it’s the Star Spangled Banner. Does the NFL want to be Bud Lighted or something?”
Commenters on his post sounded off as well. One, for example, said, “NFL has been an absolute joke for years now 🙄” Sortor, responding, said, “I couldn’t even tell you the last time I watched a game.” The original commenter, replying again, said college football is far better in that regard, writing, “I just stick to college football. Way more entertaining and far less woke!”
Another commenter claimed the continued wokeness of the league is destroying it, saying, “How to destroy a game that Americans writ large used to love. I used to watch at least two games a weekend, sometimes I’d spend an entire Sunday watching the NFL. Have refused to watch a single game since the kneeling controversy. Just when I think it might be time, this. Nope.” Watch the Chiefs, who will be playing in the Super Bowl, listen to the Black National Anthem here:
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More recently, libertarian podcaster Tim Pool sounded off on the NFL decision to keep the Black National Anthem for the Super Bowl, saying, “The Star Spangled Banner is an Anthem for all Americans and discriminates against no race. Having a black supremacist “national anthem” at the Super Bowl is an affront to the great melting pot of America and is racist.”
Another poster on X wrote that he would not be watching the Super Bowl because of the song, saying, “The United States of America has one national anthem…. I Will not be watching the Super Bowl because they’re playing a black national anthem with the intention of keeping this country divided. F*ck the NFL.”