Did singer Beyonce sing a rendition of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," also known as the Black national anthem, instead of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a NFL game held in September 2023? No, that's not true: the claim appeared first on a website clearly marked as satire. Beyonce had not performed at any NFL games in 2023 at the time of writing.
The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published by The Dunning-Kruger Times on September 14, 2023. The article, titled "Beyonce Banned From NFL After Singing "Black National Anthem" Instead of Star Spangled Banner," opened:
There's no way someone who's been around the entertainment business as long as Beyonce Knowles would ever do something so dumb that it would completely tank her career, right?
Wrong. Knowles was slated to sing The Star Spangled Banner for the crowded game in San Fransisco last Monday, but instead decided to belt out 'Lift E'ry Voice And Sing,' otherwise known as 'The Black National Anthem.'
This is how the article looked on The Dunning-Kruger Times website at the time of writing:
(Source: The Dunning-Kruger Times screenshot taken on Thu Sep 14 18:22:36 2023 UTC)
No Beyonce performance
At the time of writing, Beyonce had not performed at an NFL game during the league's 2023 season, which began on September 7, 2023. As of this writing, she is touring and performing to support the release of her 2022 album "Renaissance."
Other Lead stories fact checks related to Beyonce can be found here.
The Dunning-Kruger Times
The Dunning-Kruger Times is a satirical website with an about page (archived here) that has the following disclaimer:
About Us
Dunning-Kruger-Times.com is a subsidiary of the 'America's Last Line of Defense' network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery, or as Snopes called it before they lost their war on satire: Junk News
About Satire
Before you complain and decide satire is synonymous with 'comedy':
sat·ire ˈsaˌtī(ə)r noun: The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, OR ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you're still having an issue with that satire thing.
The website is named after the Dunning-Kruger effect, a term from a psychology experiment that describes the phenomenon of being ignorant of one's own ignorance. (That experiment has been disputed by a math professor.)
It is run by self-described liberal troll Christopher Blair.
