Opinion
Earlier this week, we reported that former Fox News host Megyn Kelly was accused of racism after she spoke out against the black national anthem being performed at the Super Bowl last Sunday. Now, Kelly is being defended by ESPN host Stephen A. Smith, who happens to be black himself.
Smith defends Kelly
Before last Sunday’s Super Bowl, Andra Day took the field to perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which was dubbed the black national anthem by the NAACP in 1919. Afterward, Kelly took to social media to say that This song “doesn’t belong in the Super Bowl. We already have a national anthem and it includes EVERYONE.”
Since then, liberals have accused Kelly of being “racist” for saying this, but Smith isn’t convinced.
“I don’t know Megyn Kelly at all, okay? I don’t find her statement racist,” Smith said in his speech of the same name earlier this week, according to the New York Post.
“I find it to be, in his eyes, patriotic,” he continued. “I find it hypocritical in his eyes. I find her to be a little detached from the reality faced by black Americans everywhere. I got that part, but I can’t talk about her the way I wanted to talk about her when people out there – from my community – just throw out the word “racist.”
“You don’t know that about her,” Smith added. “I’m sick and tired that people out there – particularly in the black community – are so quick to throw out the word ‘racism.’ When you throw out the word “racism,” do me a favor: Gather more evidence before you do it, so it can’t be dismissed through plausible deniability or something else.”
“Megyn Kelly, if you’re watching, you’re listening. I don’t like what you said at all. I think it comes across as highly insensitive,” she concluded, adding that she has “deep respect” for Kelly.
Related: Megyn Kelly Launches Black National Anthem – ‘It Doesn’t Belong in the Super Bowl’
Kelly accused of racism
This came after Kelly was accused of racism for daring to criticize the black national anthem:
Related: Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen Attacks Super Bowl Fans For Not Standing During Negro National Anthem
This isn’t the first time Kelly has challenged the left to speak out against the Black national anthem.
“I don’t think the average American – black or white – wants to hear the black national anthem before they hear the national anthem… and that’s not an offense against people of color, we’re one country,” he said Kelly in 2021, according to Yahoo News. “We don’t need separate anthems.”
“It’s an opportunity to come together,” he added. “Celebrate America… and then play a sports game. And not to shove politics or controversial cultural issues down the throats of viewers looking for an escape.”
Kelly made similar comments last year, when she criticized the Black national anthem after it was performed at the Super Bowl by Sheryl Lee Ralph.
“And then, of course, we had to have the black national anthem in addition to the regular national anthem, which is totally divisive,” Kelly said at the time. “There is no reason to have a black national anthem sung before the Super Bowl.”
“But there is a national anthem. It unites us all. It’s about love for country,” she added. “It makes no sense to divide us by race, going towards something that is already unifying as a country.”
The left can call Kelly “racist” all they want, but that won’t change the fact that they are right that there is only one national anthem, and that is “The Star Spangled Banner.” We applaud Smith for having the courage to defend Kelly from the cancel culture mob, and we hope more public figures do the same when it comes to standing up to the Black National Anthem!
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