Many MAGA supporters are complaining that a performance of the hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing” — known as the Black national anthem — was included at the pregame ceremony at Super Bowl 2026 on Sunday. But experts in Black history and racial equity emphasize that the critics are missing the point of the historical song.
Grammy award-winning singer Coco Jones was widely praised online for delivering a stunning performance of the Black national anthem during the Super Bowl festivities. Many also celebrated the “ICU” singer for paying homage to Whitney Houston with an ensemble inspired by the tracksuit Houston wore to perform “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 1991 Super Bowl.
But Jones’ powerful rendition did little to quell the right-wing outrage that the Black national anthem was featured in the pregame ceremony — or that the song exists at all — as some X users accused the hymn of being “divisive.”
“The United States of America has ONLY ONE National Anthem,” one X user wrote. “Kicking off the #SuperBowl in the year of our great nation’s 250th birthday, with the ‘Black National Anthem’, is a disgrace & racially divisive…”
“No such thing as the black national anthem….” wrote another.
