The Philadelphia Flyers capitulated to the demands of Black Lives Matter activists and removed a statue of beloved American icon Kate Smith.
The statue of the famed singer and presidential medal of freedom recipient, was removed on Easter Sunday, Philly.com reported.
Last week the Flyers and the New York Yankees distanced themselves from the patriotic singer after it was discovered she had recorded two songs about 80 years ago that are now considered racially offensive.
One of the songs was performed in a Hollywood movie. The other song was considered to be a satire on race.
Smith’s rendition of “God Bless America” became her signature song during World War II. The New York Times reported that “no single show-business figure even approached her as a seller of War Bonds during World War II.”
She is believed to have raised more than $600 million in the war effort to defeat Hitler. President Reagan honored Smith with a presidential medal of freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.
But in the end, she was done-in by Black Lives Matter.
“We are surprised it took the Flyers this long to catch on,” Black Lives Matter activist Asa Khalif told Philly.com. “We are glad they had the courage to stand up to racism and anti-blackness, and took the bold move to cover the racist statue, but they don’t get four stars,” he said. “The Flyers knew about Kate Smith’s history and her racist lyrics.”
#EasterSunday #katesmith is gone. Video from @XfinityLive in South Philly. pic.twitter.com/9YRaedv7uc
— Tony Bruno (@TonyBrunoShow) April 21, 2019
As you might imagine, local Flyers fans are outraged.
“Oh, my God. Why would they do that?” wondered Al Crescenzo. “The Flyers should have some backbone and keep what had done them good. I’ll never watch a Flyers game again.”
Kate Smith raised $11 billion dollars in 2019 dollars to fight actual Nazis. Social justice warriors who call people they disagree with about politics Nazis just got her banned in our country. This is the height of absurdity: https://t.co/2h5HXD6Pzb
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 20, 2019
Kate Smith, who has been dead since 1986, is being held to a higher standard than all of the living Democrat leaders in the Virginia Commonwealth.