Bill Maher is slamming the NFL’s decision to play “Lift Every Voice And Sing” — known as the “black national anthem” — before kickoff at the season’s first game last week, calling it “segregation … under a different name.”
The host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” railed against the NFL after 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.
“Now, maybe we should get rid of our national anthem, but I think we should have one national anthem,” Maher told his viewers during Friday’s 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.”
He made the comments in a wider discussion about race, during which he argued that the American education system had become a “social justice factory.”
Maher made reference to critical race theory being taught in schools, as well as a number of teachers who have publicly resigned because of it.
“When people say to me sometimes, like, ‘Boy, you really go after the left these days. Why?’ Because you’re embarrassing me,” Maher said.
“That’s why I’m going after the left in a way you never did before. Because you’re inverting things that I’m not going to give up on being liberal.
“This is what these teachers are talking about. You’re taking children and making them hyper-aware of race in a way they wouldn’t otherwise be.”
The NFL’s decision to play the black national anthem during week one games came amid its increasing support for social justice and “anti-racism” campaigns.
The song will also be played, in addition to “The Star-Spangled Banner,” at marquee events like the Pro Bowl, the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft.
It was also performed during similar events last season.
