The Philadelphia Flyers and New York Yankees will no longer feature iconic singer Kate Smith’s rendition of “God Bless America” after the two teams learned that she sang songs with racist lyrics in them during the 1930s:
The Yankees and the Flyers will stop playing Kate Smith's version of "God Bless America" after discovering she sang racist songs in the 1930s https://t.co/bQMkwG0HWF
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 19, 2019
More from the New York Post:
Most famously, Smith sang a 1931 song, “That’s Why Darkies Were Born,” which opened: “Someone had to pick the cotton, Someone had to pick the corn, Someone had to slave and be able to sing, That’s why darkies were born.”
The Flyers even covered up a statue of the iconic singer that sits outside the arena:
The Kate Smith statue near the Wells Fargo Center is covered, amid reports the @NHLFlyers have cut ties with Smith over racist song lyrics. pic.twitter.com/I6eCsT5oRl
— Mike DeNardo (@_MikeDeNardo) April 19, 2019
And fans aren’t happy:
An @NHLFlyers season ticket holder expressing his unhappiness that the team has covered the Kate Smith statue which was first displayed outside the Spectrum in 1987. pic.twitter.com/5FvDAWrNSL
— Cleve Bryan CBS3 (@CleveBryan) April 19, 2019
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This is just nuts:
Bob Clarke, #Flyers icon, said he met Kate Smith several times and she was not a racist.
“She was a wonderful lady,” he said. “I got to meet her and talk with her and socialize with her. Just a wonderful, wonderful lady.”— Sam Carchidi (@BroadStBull) April 19, 2019
And we’re talking about songs 90 years ago:
So all the joy that Kate Smith's singing brought to the world goes down the memory hole, because 90 years ago she recorded a *possibly* racist song (Paul Robeson recorded it too) that no one remembers her for anyway.
Another win for the totalitarians.https://t.co/j0D9EyCG2i
— Jeff Jacoby (@Jeff_Jacoby) April 19, 2019
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