STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

Kari Lake Blasts NFL For Playing ‘Black National Anthem’ Before Lions-Chiefs Game

The right-wing conservative’s protest began with the last Super Bowl and continues with the season opener.

Far-right politician Kari Lake pitched a fit – once again – over the performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” known widely as the unofficial Black national anthem, at a National Football League game.

Lake, the Donald Trump-backed candidate who lost her bid for Arizona governor in 2020, fumed when a local Kansas City, Mo., youth choir sang the Black national anthem Thursday (Sep. 7) during the pregame ceremony at the season opener between the  Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions, FOX News reports.

The official national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was performed, as usual, immediately before kickoff of the game, which the Lions won 21-20.

“I hear the @NFL is still trying to force this divisive nonsense down America's throats. I won't stand for it. Literally. America has only ONE National Anthem and that Anthem is color blind,” she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Lake’s rebuke of the NFL was posted with a photo of her sitting down during the Black national anthem at Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Ariz. – refusing to stand with an annoyed look on her face.

Far Right Conservatives Lose It Over ‘Black National Anthem’ Performance At Super Bowl

Originally a hymn authored by NAACP leader James Weldon Johson more than a century ago, the song became an anthem during the darkest years of the civil rights movement.

At the start of the 2021 season, the NFL announced it will continue to play a recording of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” before games, following the global racial justice protests over the police killings of George Floyd and Breona Taylor.

That decision also came in the aftermath of a controversial campaign initiated by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick to protest racial injustice and police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem.

Latest News

Subscribe for BET Updates

Provide your email address to receive our newsletter.


By clicking Subscribe, you confirm that you have read and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive marketing communications, updates, special offers (including partner offers) and other information from BET and the Paramount family of companies. You understand that you can unsubscribe at any time.