The claim: Beyoncé sang the Black national anthem ‘at the NFL’ and got booed

A Feb. 21 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims a crowd reacted negatively to a performance by singer Beyoncé at a sporting event.

“Beyoncé sings ‘Black national anthem’ at the NFL, gets booed off immediately,” the post reads. “Watch below.”

Our rating: False

Beyoncé did not sing the Black national anthem at any NFL game. The claim originated as satire, though it is not labeled as such in the post.

Beyoncé performed ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ at Coachella, not NFL games

The Facebook page that shared the claim added a link in the comments to a Nov. 26, 2023, article from Lich News. The story claims Beyoncé performed a rendition of the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the official title of what is known as the Black national anthem, at an “event.” It does not name the event or give a date for it but claims the crowd was displeased with her rendition of the song. The story includes a video that makes the same claim.

But the supposed performance is not shown in the video, and the article is not backed up by any credible sources. There are no credible news reports that the singer performed the Black national anthem at an NFL game. The 2023 NFL season also concluded on Feb. 11, more than a week before the Facebook post was shared.

While there is no record of Beyoncé performing the anthem at an NFL game, she did sing it during her performances at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2018. She has also performed at two Super Bowl halftime shows and sang the national anthem “The Star Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004.

“Lift Every Voice and Sing” has been performed by other artists at NFL games during the 2023 season. The Kansas City Boys Choir and the Kansas City Girls Choir performed it at the Chief’s home opener against the Detroit Lions on Sept. 7, 2023, and Andra Day performed it at Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11.

The song was written in 1900 as a poem by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson, and music was later added to it by his brother John Rosamond Johnson.

The claim appears to have been first shared by SpaceXMania, a satirical website, on Sept. 10, 2023.

The Facebook post, however, has no satire disclaimer. It’s an example of “stolen satire” – when satirical content is taken from its original context and presented as legitimate news, which potentially misleads readers.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.