The National Football League (NFL), which often portrays a desire to end racism and segregation, will continue to segregate its national anthem performances at the Super Bowl.

The league has announced that singer/songwriter Coco Jones will perform the so-called black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” at Super Bowl LX on February 8th.

There is only one national anthem. Just as there is one national bird, the bald eagle. But the NFL, which likes to mock its own fans, wants you to believe otherwise.

Jones will join a lineup featuring Charlie Puth for the actual national anthem and Brandi Carlile for “America the Beautiful.”

The tradition of including the “Black national anthem” began in 2020 in response to George Floyd’s death. Instead, it serves little more than to divide fans and Americans.

National anthem and halftime controversy

One has to assume that the NFL loves the controversy. It’s intentional whether it’s the “black national anthem” or the anti-American performer at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show.

The NFL caused quite a stir when it announced that Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, a three-time Grammy winner known for his global popularity and Spanish-language hits, would headline the Super Bowl LX halftime show.

Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio MartĂ­nez Ocasio, suffers from a severe lack of patriotism, in the minds of some. Ocasio criticized law enforcement efforts to clean up the streets of criminals at his concerts.

“There was the issue of — like, (expletive) ICE could be outside my concert,” he said in an interview with Variety. “It was something we were very concerned about.”

That means the Super Bowl pre-game show will divide fans by race, while the halftime show will divide them by pro- and anti-crime stances. Not to mention, divide them with garbage music.

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Maybe celebrate America instead

You’d think a sports and entertainment league raking in money hand over fist (a record total revenue of over $23 billion in its 2024 fiscal year) would celebrate the country that allows them that success.

Instead, it uses entertainers to make political statements about how terrible the U.S. supposedly is.

Fortunately, patriots will have an alternative to the Super Bowl halftime show at least. Erika Kirk, the husband of assassinated conservative icon Charlie Kirk, and the group he co-founded, Turning Point USA, will be offering counterprogramming for the halftime festivities.

The effort will be a direct rebuke of the league for continuing to choose polarizing, mid-level entertainment acts just to stir up controversy and draw in viewers. A much-needed rebuke.

NFL great Brett Favre is on the same page.

“I’d pick someone who — maybe Jason Aldean… someone who loves this country and that everyone could relate to,” Favre said when asked what he would do for the halftime show if he were Commissioner Roger Goodell. “I think Jason Aldean right now is as big a patriot and has a great voice.”

Bunny is a person who embodies neither of those traits. The “black national anthem” is for those who hate the country. The NFL is a joke.