Opinion
Earlier this week, we reported that the former Fox News host Megyn Kelly was being accused of racism after speaking out against the black national anthem being performed at the Super Bowl last Sunday. Now, Kelly is being defended by the ESPN host Stephen A. Smith, who happens to be black himself.
Smith Defends Kelly
Before the Super Bowl last Sunday, Andra Day took the field to perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which was dubbed the black national anthem by the NAACP in 1919. Afterwards, Kelly took to social media to say that this song “does not belong at the Super Bowl. We already have a National Anthem and it includes EVERYONE.”
In the days since then, liberals have been accusing Kelly of being “racist” for saying this, but Smith is not having any of it.
“I don’t know Megyn Kelly at all, OK? I don’t find her statement to be racist,” Smith said on his eponymous talk sow earlier this week, according to The New York Post.
“I find it to be, in her eyes, patriotic,” he continued. “I find it to be, in her eyes, self-righteous. I find her to be a bit detached from reality being faced by black Americans everywhere. I got that part, but I can’t go in the way that I wanted to go in about her when people are out there — from my community — just throwing out the word ‘racist.’”
“You don’t know that about her,” Smith added. “I’m sick and tired of folks out there — particularly in the black community — being so quick to throw out the word ‘racism.’ When you throw out the word ‘racism,’ do me a favor: have more evidence before you do it so it can’t be dismissed via 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,” he concluded, adding that he has “profound respect” for Kelly.
Related: Megyn Kelly Torches Black National Anthem – ‘Does Not Belong At The Super Bowl’
Kelly Accused Of Racism
This came after Kelly was accused of racism for daring to criticize the black national anthem:
Related: Dem Rep Steve Cohen Blasts Super Bowl Fans For Not Standing During ‘Negro National Anthem’
This is far from the first time that Kelly has defied the left to speak out against the black national anthem.
“I don’t think that the average American – Black or white – wants to hear the Black national anthem before they hear the national anthem…and it’s no offense against people of color, we’re one country,” Kelly said in 2021, according to Yahoo News. “We don’t need separate anthems.”
“It’s a chance to come together,” she added. “Celebrate America… and then play a sports game. And not to shove politics or divisive cultural issues down the throats of the viewers who are looking for a getaway.”
Kelly made similar comments last year, when she slammed 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’s one national anthem. It unites us all. It’s about love of country,” she added. “There’s no point in dividing us by race, going into something that is already unifying as a country.”
Leftists can call Kelly “racist” all that they want to, but it won’t change the fact that she’s right in saying that there is only one national anthem, and it’s “The Star Spangled Banner.” We applaud Smith for having the guts to defend Kelly against the cancel culture mob, and we hope that more public figures will do the same when it comes to taking on the black national anthem!
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