Bill Maher Says NFL’s Move To Play ‘Black National Anthem’ Is ‘Segregation’
It was announced earlier this month that the NFL will play “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often referred to as the Black national anthem, at major events during the 2021-2022 season.
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HBO’s Bill Maher weighed in on the NFL’s decision, calling it “segregation” but “under a different name.” The host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” railed against the NFL after singer Alicia Keys performed the song ahead of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the opening game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last Thursday.
He said, “Now, maybe we should get rid of our national anthem, but I think we should have one national anthem,” Maher told his viewers during the show. “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.”
Maher has been criticized over his comments even by fellow talk show host Whoopi Goldberg. During “The View” she said,
“I think because we have gone backwards a good 10-15 years, we’re having to reeducate people,” Goldberg said. “We’re having to reeducate people about how women want to be talked about, how Black people want to be talked about, how Hispanic people want to be talked about … and just so you know, Bill, ‘Lift Every Voice’ has always been considered the Black national anthem. It’s always been that because the separation of the anthems has been so clear to us. Now, maybe other people don’t feel like that, but I feel like, you know, we have to reeducate and retell people.”
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