Democratic Congressman Hits Super Bowl Fans for Not Standing for ‘Negro National Anthem’

A Democratic congressman raised some eyebrows online Sunday when he took a shot at the Super Bowl crowd in Las Vegas, saying very few fans stood for the singing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” calling it “not a very pretty picture.”

Known colloquially as the “Black National Anthem,” Grammy winner Andra Day performed the song as part of the pre-game festivities for Super Bowl LVIII between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers.

“Very very few stood for ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’” Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn. wrote on X. “The Negro National Anthem. Not a pretty picture of Super Bowl crowd.” Cohen represents a majority-Black district in western Tennessee.

{snip}

Critics have said the nation has only one true national anthem and serves only to divide races further.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., wrote on X about a conversation he had with his wife about why they weren’t going to watch the Super Bowl.

“They’re desecrating America’s National Anthem by playing something called the ‘Black National Anthem,’” he wrote.

“1619 Project” founder Nikole Hannah-Jones hit back at critics last month by saying the “White national anthem” is already played.

“It was written by a racist enslaver who believed Black people were inferior and fought abolitionists in the courts,” she wrote of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

{snip}