Gladys Knight on Why She’ll Sing the Anthem at Super Bowl

ATLANTA (AP) — Gladys Knight says her singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl will bring people together.

NBC’s “Today” show reported Friday that Knight wrestled with whether to join a boycott over the NFL’s treatment of Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback who protested racial injustice by kneeling during the national anthem.

Gladys Knight

FILE – In this Oct. 9, 2018 file photo, Gladys Knight arrives at the American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The seven-time Grammy Award-winner will sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at this year’s Super Bowl, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019.(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

Kaepernick attorney Mark Geragos said the performers are “crossing an intellectual picket line; they’re saying to themselves, ‘I care more about my career than whether what I’m doing is right.'”

Knight said she’s been working for civil rights and singing the anthem since she was a little girl.

Knight says everyone has an opinion, “but once we get into that love thing, it all comes together and goes wherever and we end up clapping and having a good time.”

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