'Abbott Elementary' Star Sheryl Lee Ralph Performs Black National Anthem At The Super Bowl

The NFL added a new song to the pregame lineup for the 2023 Super Bowl and invited actress Sheryl Lee Ralph to perform the Black national anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," at the event for the first time ever.

The song was written by the first NAACP leader, James Weldon Johnson, in 1900 and was originally conceived as a poem.

The song was first performed at the Stanton School by a group of 500 children, and it rose to national prominence in the 1950s as the NAACP used the tune as its official anthem.

Sheryl told The Hollywood Reporter that she was over the moon to be chosen to sing the song. As she said, "It’s just so amazing that they chose me. And then the Eagles are in the Super Bowl. I mean, come on. You know God must be a woman because all of this is just too perfect."

She continued, "Just amazing, just stunning. And the way people have been coming back, they said, ‘Girl, you made the pre-show look like it was trying to be halftime.’ They said, ‘The costume. The wardrobe. The hair. The shoes. The makeup.’ I was just like, ‘Well, thank you. Fenty of it all, hey."

You can see Sheryl's performance in the video below!

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