Media Lauds, Fans Outraged as Aspiring Country Music Singer Meghan Linsey Takes a Knee at Tennessee Titans Game

 

The Tennessee Titans decided as a team to boycott the National Anthem Sunday, but that was not the only protest fans were treated to prior to the game.

Aspiring country music star and habitual singing competition contestant Meghan Linsey who – by her own admission “didn’t even think about it that much” – took a knee on the final note of her performance of the Star Spangled Banner.

Both the Titans & Seahawks remained in their locker rooms during the national anthem while the singer took a knee during her performance. pic.twitter.com/zeBQhYbKPN

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 24, 2017

The singer has been hailed by several news outlets for her demonstration, earning no less than a 1200+ word love-fest on Yahoo News:

That thing was taking a knee at the end of the anthem, as the singer best known for taking Season 8 of The Voice down to the wire locked arms with her guitarist, Tyler Cain, who also got down on one knee. Linsey had expected to have more company on the field during her action, but she got word right before she went out that the Titans and the Seattle Seahawks had been chosen to stay in the wings during the anthem. “That made it a little more scarier, I guess, that nobody was out there doing it with me,” she tells Yahoo. “And I hadn’t planned for this. But it was obviously just meant to be that I was there in this moment, and given this opportunity.”

The reasoning behind her protest reflects a lack of thorough contemplation – which she readily admits – that results in a confusing mish-mash of buzzwords and phrases from the left:

She said her decision came earlier that morning. “Until yesterday, I didn’t even think about it that much,” she said Sunday evening. “Then I was thinking about the things that [the president] said yesterday, and I thought, ‘Man, it really does need to be addressed, and I think I’m in a position to take a stand and hopefully make a difference.’ I have a lot of African-American friends, and they can’t stand alone. I love America. I’m not unpatriotic. I appreciate our men and women in uniform. That’s not the issue. I think the issue is the things that are happening around us with racism, and Trump will come out and openly condemn NFL players for peacefully protesting, but then these white national terrorists bring their tiki torches and cause this violence, and then he has nothing to say. It was important to me to stand with [African-Americans].

“I couldn’t have gone out there and not done anything and felt good about it, because I have always built this platform on empowerment and loving people — whatever color, whatever sexual orientation. And it was like: Of all the days that I would sing the anthem! It put me in a weird spot. You’re making a choice when you walk out there, however you handle it. If you don’t take a knee, it’s like: what do you stand for? For me, anything else wasn’t an option.”

The Daily Mail covered the singer’s protest as well, although the foreign news outlet included in their coverage the other singer to demonstrate Sunday, Rico Lavelle:

In Detroit, singer Rico Lavelle dropped to his right knee, bowed his head and raised his right fist wrapped around the microphone.

He took a knee at the word ‘brave’. The Detroit Lions and the Atlanta Falcons were facing off in Detroit. Video from Sports Illustrated shows him taking a knee.

As reported by The Star, fallout from the National Anthem protests has been has been overwhelmingly negative, despite the cherry-picked commentary featured by The Daily Mail.

A quick scan of the Yahoo News comments shows similar reactions against her demonstration.

Delilah was the first to comment on the story, writing, “Say goodbye to your career you idiot.”

Dansw4 wrote, “You accepted money to sing the anthem you then protested. Some might call you a sellout for even accepting the gig profiting off something you then protest. If you really wanted to make a statement why not just decline singing the anthem? You made money off that anthem you protested.”

John added, “Just like the loudmouth lead singer of Dixie Chicks that single-handedly destroyed their successful careers, by badmouthing President Bush while performing overseas. Country music fans have a good memory Meghan.”

And James wonders, “Why bother singing the national anthem if you’ll disrespect the American flag. I don’t get it.”

Fans first heard Meghan Linsey as half of the country music duo Steel Magnolia. She competed and won CMT’s singing competition show Can You Duet before competing on NBC’s The Voice, where she came in second place. Shortly afterward, she launched a beauty brand called “Believer by Meghan Lindsey” that, according to a press release, “is not just a beauty brand, it is my vision which harmonizes music, beauty and fashion as a platform to support and empower women.”