By now you likely have heard that Sevyn Streeter was scheduled to sing the national anthem prior to the Sixers home opener in Philly against the Thunder. Everything was good to go until the team found out she was wearing a shirt that said “We Matter”. At that point the organization pulled the plug on the performance as Sevyn took to social media to explain what happened, leaving many people rightfully upset.
@IamJoeSports
The team basically censored Sevyn, which is unacceptable. While it is their own right to say who can and can not perform in their arena, to tell her she couldn’t sing only after learning of her wardrobe is a slap in the face.
“I’d say two minutes before we were about to walk out … the organization told me that I could not wear my shirt while singing the national anthem at their game,” the R&B singer said by phone. “I was never given any kind of dress code. I was never asked beforehand to show my wardrobe.”
She also came to Hot 97 and joined Ebro In The Morning to further explain what happened.
The Sixers declined to say why Streeter’s performance was canceled. Instead they gave a half-assed generic explanation.
“The Philadelphia 76ers organization encourages meaningful actions to drive social change. We use our games to bring people together, to build trust and to strengthen our communities. As we move from symbolic gestures to action, we will continue to leverage our platform to positively impact our community,” the Sixers said in a statement.
Sixers players have been talking about doing their own demonstration for their next home game, which is Saturday.
“Everybody expressed their emotions about it,” forward Robert Covington said. “We want to take steps about it. We just don’t know exactly what steps we want to take. We talked about a lot of different things.”
Even coach Brett Brown appears to be down for the team doing their own thing. “We understand the situation and we respect the social issue involved,” Brown said Thursday. “We completely get it. As a group, we will try to find a way to deal with this.”
Two other singers of the national anthem at NBA games this season have either taken a knee or wore a “Black Lives Matter” shirt and it’s clear the Sixers franchise wanted no parts of something like that. It’s also clear though that whoever made the decision to cancel Sevyn, really needs to open their eyes.
