*John Legend is supporting Colin Kaepernick in his decision not to stand during the national anthem, calling “The Star-Spangled Banner” “weak,” and saying he doesn’t “truly love” the song.
“For those defending the current anthem, do you really truly love that song? I don’t and I’m very good at singing it. Like, one of the best,” he tweeted. “My vote is for ‘America the Beautiful.’ ‘Star Spangled Banner’ is a weak song anyway.”
Legend linked to an article on The Intercept titled, “Colin Kaepernick Is Righter Than You Know: The National Anthem Is a Celebration of Slavery.”
The writer argues that the rarely-sung third verse of Francis Scott Key’s song is a musical, intellectual and moral “atrocity” that “literally celebrates the murder of African-Americans.”
The verse in question reads:
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave
When a Twitter user challenged Legend over his protest of the anthem’s lyrics, Legend responded “I agree that [Kaepernick’s] protest wasn’t about the lyrics. It’s about the lives of people of color in America.”
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