Megyn Kelly, ex-host of Fox News, caused a stir after expressing her distaste for the representation of Black culture at the Super Bowl. Although traditional rendition of The Star Spangled Banner by Chris Stapleton was included in Sunday night’s game as usual, Lift Every Voice and Sing being performed also set off an uproar from Kelly. Despite criticism from many public figures such as herself, this performance has been celebrated by others for its significance in recognizing African American history.
One fan wrote on Twitter, “Sheryl Lee Ralph looked and sounded amazing, singing ‘The Black National Anthem’ ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ during the Superbowl pregame show, which happens to also be 123 years to the date, when the hymn was first publicly sung!”
Although millions of Americans greatly admired the Super Bowl for playing the Black national anthem before kickoff, Megyn Kelly, unfortunately, deemed this action to be insulting and demeaning.
“Can I tell you, like, it wasn’t as bad as it’s been in years past, but it was a woke Super Bowl, and it was annoying,” in her podcast, Kelly remarked. “Why did we need the all-female flyover, which they — Fox, I mean, even on Fox, they were showing highlights. ‘It’s an all-female flyover.’ Oh, okay. All right. Thank you for reminding me that women can be pilots. I didn’t know that.”
As Kelly watched the Super Bowl pregame show, she was completely taken aback by Sheryl Lee Ralph’s astounding rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, also referred to as the Black national anthem. Her performance truly captivated all who were watching.
“And then, of course, we had to have the Black National Anthem in addition to the regular national anthem, which is totally divisive. There is no reason to have a Black National Anthem sung before the Super Bowl,” Kelly stated. “But there’s one national anthem. It unites us all. It’s about the love of the country. There’s no point in dividing us by race, going into something that is already unifying as a country.”
Recently, Megyn Kelly – who has embraced a far-right political ideology since her departure from Fox News – expressed dissatisfaction with the Super Bowl ads as she felt that too many of them included progressive and “woke” celebrities without any Republicans.
“And then we had a parade of left-wing celebrities all over the ads, from Amy Schumer to Ben Affleck, who won’t even act with a Republican. He refuses to act across anybody who’s openly Republican,” Kelly said.
Kelly’s comment was in relation to Ben Affleck’s statement that he would generally avoid working with a Republican if given a choice.
“People now know me as a Democrat, and that will always be the case to some extent,” Affleck said in 2014. “It does [polarize viewers], and you can bifurcate your audience. When I watch a guy I know is a big Republican, part of me thinks, I probably wouldn’t like this person if I met him, or we would have different opinions. That s–t fogs the mind when you should be paying attention and be swept into the illusion.”
Kelly was disheartened by the outcome of the Super Bowl.
“All I could think was like, they don’t get it right,” Kelly stated. “Like the people who put together the entertainment, who put together the ads, they’re not even trying to think about the other half of the country. They’re just pandering. They just wanna pander, pander, pander. And it’s fine. The game was great, but it is a slight irritant as you’re watching the game.”
