Former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has yet again found herself at the center of the controversial spotlight. Pictures of Kari Lake at the Super Bowl LVII have recently gone viral, but for quite unexpected reasons.
At the Sunday game played at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, Kari Lake was seen sitting in her seat while the controversial Black national anthem was being played ahead of the game.
While the Black national anthem, called “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was playing, pictures of Lake refusing to stand up in support quickly went viral, with several people leaving comments praising her stance.
At the Sunday game played at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, Kari Lake was seen sitting in her seat while the controversial Black national anthem was being played ahead of the game.
Watch the video to know more. pic.twitter.com/ULK1ey8TsI
— World-Wire (@WorldWire) February 14, 2023
“Never been easier to be a hero these days,” commented one Twitter user.
“Good for her. No one should support this. It was created to divide the country,” wrote another.
In response to the photos going viral, Lake said that she was just “here for THE National Anthem.”
In a statement on Monday, Lake said that she stands against a ‘black National Anthem’ for the same reasons she opposes a ‘White National Anthem’ a ‘Jewish National Anthem,’ a ‘Christian National Anthem,’ a ‘gay National Anthem’ and all the others.
Kari Lake said that while “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is a beautiful song, it is not the American National Anthem as “we are ONE NATION, under God,” and that “Francis Scott Key’s words ring true for every single American Citizen” no matter what their skin colour is.
The Black national anthem being played before the traditional Us national anthem at the Sunday game sparked heated debate across all social media platforms. The song, according to the NAACP website, was initially a poem written in 1900 by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson, which has now been turned into a hymn.
The controversial Black national anthem has been played in several past seasons of the NFL, including the 2020 Super Bowl, and the league’s 2020 season during its Week 1 games.
The strife regarding ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ isn’t just contained within the stadium walls of NFL games. An elementary school in Florida sparked controversy earlier this year when it issued permission slips for parents to allow their children to learn the song.
The song has been deemed as “racist” and “segregation” by a number of critics who have protested against its status as a ‘national anthem.’
Among prominent critics, is “Real Time” host Bill Maher slammed the NFL for playing two national anthems after Thursday night’s season kickoff game, saying that the inclusion of the song as a National Anthem is making children “hyper-aware of race in a way they wouldn’t otherwise be.”
“I saw last night on the football game, Alicia Keys sang ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’ which now I hear is called the Black national anthem. Now, maybe we should get rid of our national anthem, but I think we should have one national anthem. I think when you go down a road where you’re having two different national anthems, colleges sometimes now have … many of them have different graduation ceremonies for Black and White, separate dorms — this is what I mean! Segregation! You’ve inverted the idea. We’re going back to that under a different name,” he added.
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