The NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers announced it has removed the Kate Smith statue from outside of the Wells Fargo Center and will no longer play the singer’s version of “God Bless America” during games, following a similar move by the New York Yankees last week.
The action both organizations made is reportedly due to racist jingles that Smith sang in the 1930s, according to the New York Daily News.
“The Flyers have enjoyed a long and popular relationship with “God Bless America,” as performed by the late Kate Smith, a woman who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor for her patriotic contributions to our nation,” the team said in an announcement.
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“But in recent days, we learned that several of the songs Kate Smith performed in the 1930s include lyrics and sentiments that are incompatible with the values of our organization, and evoke painful and unacceptable themes.”
Smith has been known for generations for her rendition of Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America. However, few today have heard her sing songs like “Pickaninny Heaven,” which she performed in front of a group of Black children at an orphanage in 1933.
“…Although the nice lord took your mammy, she’ll be ready there for ya,” were among the lyrics she sang.
Further, in 1931, Smith wrote and recorded “That’s Why Darkies Had been Born.”
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There is debate, though, that Smith recorded the song as one of the satirical tunes from the 1931 Broadway review “Georgia’s White Scandals.” Actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson also recorded a version of it.
In the past, Smith was viewed as good luck for the Flyers — ever since she performed the song in 1974 before Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. In that series, the team beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2. Smith would perform her version live before Flyers games several times in the 1970s. The statue of her was erected in 1987, a year after she died.
The Yankees stopped playing Smith’s version of “God Bless America” after using it for 18 years when the team became aware of her earlier racist recordings, according to the Daily News.
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“The Yankees have been made aware of a recording that had been previously unknown to us and decided to immediately and carefully review this new information,” a club spokesman told the newspaper. “The Yankees take social, racial and cultural insensitivities very seriously. And while no final conclusions have been made, we are erring on the side of sensitivity.”
Flyers President Paul Holmgren released a statement in which he said: “The NHL principle ‘Hockey is for Everyone’ is at the heart of everything the Flyers stand for. As a result, we cannot stand idle while material from another era gets in the way of who we are today.”