The Black national anthem has become a staple at the Super Bowl and the NFL since a summer of racial unrest amid the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
The NAACP began promoting “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as a black national anthem in 1917. The song’s performance before the Super Bowl has caused division on social media.
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Sage Steele will be attending Shaq Fun House in Las Vegas on February 9, 2024. (Greg Doherty/Getty Images)
Sage Steele said on the podcast: “The Sage Steele Show” While speaking with musician Reggie Watts, Steele said he didn’t like black nation, and Steele said playing the song before “The Star-Spangled Banner” was “ridiculous.”
“Hey, we’re one big melting pot,” the former ESPN star said, “which is a good thing. We’ve been through some tough times the last few years, so why would we choose to split up again now and say, ‘This is just our national anthem, but everybody stand up. Stand up.'”
“We’re all Americans and we think this is our national anthem. And all the immigrants who came here from all over the world stand up to sing our national anthem. They’re all Americans.”
Steele said Watts’ initial lack of knowledge of what a black national anthem was was proof that it was a new concept and that “they’re forcing it on people.”
Sage Steele spoke at the Players Tailgate presented by Bullseye Events Group on February 13, 2022 in Los Angeles. (Jesse Grant/Getty Images via Bullseye Events Group)
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Andra Day performed the song before Super Bowl 55 this year, which drew fierce backlash from Republicans.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) wrote to X about a conversation he had with his wife about why he wouldn’t be watching the Super Bowl.
“They are desecrating the American national anthem by playing what they are calling the ‘Black National Anthem,'” he wrote.
Republican Rep. Mike Royczyk of the Ohio House of Representatives criticized the NFL.
Andra Day will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing” before Super Bowl 55 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on February 11, 2024. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
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“There is no such thing as a black national anthem,” he wrote to X. “We are all Americans, united by our great and beautiful Stars and Stripes. The Super Bowl is meant to bring us together. It is shameful that the NFL has once again decided to promote the politics of racial division.”
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