The US Open did not play the United States national anthem during the women’s or men’s finals last weekend.
The anthem was nowhere to be heard in New York as the tournament’s two victors, American Coco Gauff (who defeated Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to earn her first Grand Slam title) and Serbian Novak Djokovic (who defeated Daniil Medvedev in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3) played in the finals.
The organizers, however, did play “Lift Every Voice and Sing” ahead of the men’s championship. The song is widely considered to be the Black national anthem. The Open also featured “America the Beautiful.”
And the Open did play the national anthem for its opening ceremonies. Still, the lack of an anthem at the finals perturbed former Fox News and current MSNBC political analyst Megyn Kelly.
“No national anthem at the US Open – just a mixture of America the Beautiful & Lift Every Voice & Sing,” Kelly wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “This, as everywhere we are barraged with ’50 years of equal pay!’ reminders and Moderna signs. Can we just have a non-woke, non-agenda-pushing men’s tennis championship?”
The sports world was quick to react to the curious decision, with some people backing Kelly’s take while others excoriated her for not appreciating the playing of other patriotic songs:
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