The Philadelphia 76ers are receiving some unwanted attention this week after reportedly denying singer Sevyn Streeter the opportunity to perform the national anthem due to a black injustice awareness t-shirt.
Sevyn went to her social media pages last night (October 26) and addressed what happened.
Was suppose to sing the anthem at @sixers & @okcthunder game but mins b4 @sixers said I couldn't because I was wearing a "We Matter" jersey pic.twitter.com/wjoJN3rq0r
— Sevyn (@sevyn) October 27, 2016
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMC7OxYAV-3/?taken-by=sevyn&hl=en
The 76ers organization has since issued a statement to explain its decision to nix Sevyn’s performance.
“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.” (Statement)
76ers player Gerald Henderson spoke out on what went down and gave his reaction to cheerleader Jemila Worley filling in.
“I saw the little pause there … I was wondering, something had crossed my mind like, ‘What’s going on? Did something happen?’ That was pretty big time for a cheerleader to step in there, and she killed it! There’s a lot going on man,” Henderson said. “People care about these things that are happening, as well as they should. And they are going to express themselves in different ways … . People are trying to make statements, I guess.” (ESPN)