Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was ridiculed after she praised country star Chris Stapleton’s Super Bowl performance for supposedly being anti-woke, not realising he's a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Ms Greene praised the singer’s performance while slamming the rest of the pre-game events – Sheryl Lee Ralph sang Lift Every Voice and Sing, often referred to as the Black national anthem, and a team of all-female pilots performed a Navy flyover.
“Chris Stapleton just sang the most beautiful national anthem at the Super Bowl. But we could have gone without the rest of the wokeness,” she tweeted after the singer performed The Star-Spangled Banner ahead of the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night.
Ms Greene appeared to be unaware of Mr Stapleton’s support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Following the 25 May 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, Mr Stapleton appeared on CBS This Morning, saying “do I think Black lives matter? Absolutely ... I don’t know how you could think they don’t”.
“There’s a very broad awakening that’s come about and it’s time for me to listen. It’s time for other folks to listen,” he said at the time. “The country that I thought we were living in was a myth.”
Ms Greene was subsequently mocked for her lack of understanding, with Twitter users noting Mr Stapleton’s progressive views, and others asked why Ms Greene appeared to be bothered by an all-female pilot team.
“Chris Stapleton is ‘woke’ as f***, you shrieking harridan,” Dennis Perkins wrote, linking to a country music outlet outlining Mr Stapleton’s support for the movement.
“MTG is here revealing that when they say ‘woke’ it means they don’t want to see or hear anything about non-white culture,” one Twitter user said.
“Please say what you mean: You could’ve done without the black people,” another added.
“Like the 1st ever all-woman Navy flyover. That’s what you call woke??” a third said.
“.@mtgreene‘s Definition of Woke: A bunch of scary black people singing, dancing, playing football and sitting in Fox sportscaster chairs...” Andy Ostroy wrote.
“Witness when racism never takes a day off. Neanderthals are gonna Neanderthal. The #Wokeness this s***gibbon is referring to is @thesherylralph and @babyface performing. How DARE they show up all black and excellent huh? This thing is a hateful gargoyle,” Yvette Nicole Brown said.
Josef Adalian said, “she means the Black man and woman who sang just before him, and the ASL interpreters who signed the three songs” in response to Ms Greene’s tweet.
“You clearly know nothing about Chris Stapleton. 100% chance he hates you and he’s a ‘woke’ Black Lives Matter supporter,” one account holder said.
The Independent has reached out to the office of Ms Greene for comment.
