Former professional football player Eli Manning recently led a heartwarming rendition of “God Bless America” in a restaurant during Super Bowl week in New Orleans. The legendary New York Giants quarterback was spotted in a restaurant in The Big Easy with his brother, Cooper Manning, who initiated the song. Eventually, all the other patrons joined in, singing along with the Mannings.
The Manning family is from New Orleans and maintains a stellar reputation in the local community. The Children’s Hospital New Orleans was recently renamed after the Manning family, and they celebrated at the Louisiana Legacy Gala last week. Eli and Cooper’s father, Archie, and their mother, Olivia, were granted the first Louisiana Legacy Award for their commitment to serving the well-being of children in Louisiana and nationwide.
“I can speak on behalf of my entire family. It’s very hard to put into words,” Archie Manning said during the event. “To have a hospital named after you, this is not like making second-team All-SEC or anything like that. We just have such admiration for this hospital and the people and the leadership. For them to do this for our family, it’s one of the greatest things that’s happened in my life.”
He continued, “I think it was in 2007, we dedicated Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis. And, in 2009, I think it was, we dedicated Eli Manning Children’s Clinics in Jackson, Mississippi. After both of those events, I told my sons that this is your finest hour, and I meant that. Football, in Peyton’s case, they’d just won a Super Bowl, and then Eli. I said, ‘What’s going on here is your finest hour.’”
In other news regarding the Super Bowl, The American Tribune reported on conservative criticism regarding the playing of the “Black National Anthem,” maintaining that it is divisive and that Americans should unite as one people under the Star Spangled Banner. Some have even claimed they will outright boycott the event if the alternative anthem is played.
One person wrote on X, “Hey @NFL, remove the so-called “Black National Anthem.” America already has a National Anthem. We don’t need or want one specific to a group of people. That only encourages division. We are all ONE NATION.” Conservative commentator Tim Pool added, “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.”
“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,” another person said. Former ESPN personality Sage Steele has also pushed back on the Black National Anthem in previous comments. “I never intended to stir the pot, but now I don’t care. … I don’t like this whole black national anthem thing,” she said.
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Watch the Manning brothers sing below:
Steele continued, “Let’s call it that. Hashtag blanthem. Maybe if it were that I would not think it were so ridiculous and divisive. … With the hashtag we’re good. Cool. To me, and again I’m sensitive, because I’ve been told — Dude, we’re one big melting pot. This is good. Why are we now choosing to separate again when we’ve been in a tough time here the past several years, to say, “This is only our anthem, but y’all better stand up. Get you’re a** up.” …I think we’re all Americans and it’s our anthem; and all the immigrants from across the world that have come here stand up for our anthem. They’re all Americans.”
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.