NFL gets political with choice for Super Bowl national anthem singer
With the wild card rounds of the NFL Playoffs over, the league is officially down to its own version of the “Elite Eight.”
The New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars or Tennessee Titans will face off against either the Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints or Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LII.
The big game is only weeks away, so details about the event have begun trickling out.
It’s already been known that Justin Timberlake will be the halftime show, a mildly surprising choice considering what happened the last time Timberlake was involved in a Super Bowl halftime show.
And now, the NFL and NBC have announced that singer Pink will have the honor of performing the national anthem prior to the game.
It’s certainly seems like the NFL and NBC are trying to make a pretty clear statement with their choice of Pink.
It was just a few months ago that President Donald Trump first broached the topic of the NFL and the national anthem at a September rally in Alabama.
Trump condemned all of the NFL players who knelt for the national anthem, even singling out free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Trump went so far as to say that owners should tell kneeling players, “Get that son of a b—- off the field right now, he’s fired. He’s fired!”
The NFL fraternity took none too kindly to those words, prompting swathes of coaches and players to kneel that following week.
Even players who had never knelt or engaged in any types of protests during the national anthem before, such as Tom Brady and Drew Brees, partook in some form of defiance against Trump.
Fast forward to Super Bowl LII, and it certainly doesn’t seem like much of a coincidence that Pink was chosen to sing the national anthem.
While Hollywood and the entertainment industry has never been shy about its disdain for Trump, few took that disdain further than Pink.
Pink, whose real name is Alecia Beth Moore, has made no secret of her anti-Trump sentiments on social media.
When she first seemed to allude to her pending Super Bowl performance, she found time to take a dig at Trump on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/Pink/status/949541261844738048
And if there was any doubt that Pink’s opposed Trump, that was removed during the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards.
Pink wore a "FUMP TRUCK" flag on her belt during her #VMAs performance. #VMA pic.twitter.com/IAFaSqGdKk
— Gibson Johns (@gibsonoma) August 28, 2017
She was visibly wearing something with “FUMP TRUCK!” emblazoned on it.
Super Bowl LII will take place Feb. 4 and will air on NBC.
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