Liberal political commentator Angela Rye called the national anthem "problematic" on CNN Tuesday.
"The national anthem is problematic in and of itself," Rye said during a panel discussion on President Donald Trump and the NFL anthem protests. "There's a second verse that Colin Kaepernick brought attention to that has yet to be discussed on broad platforms."
Despite her confidence in asserting the issue of the anthem, the verse that Rye is referring to is actually the third verse of Francis Scott Key's original poem, in which one line states: "No refuge could save the hireling and slave."
Naomi Lim explains the story behind the verse quite well in the Washington Examiner.
"In the third verse of Francis Scott Key's poem, 'Defence of Fort M'Henry,' on which the anthem is based, the lawyer wrote of the killing of Colonial Marines, a unit comprised of escaped slaves recruited by the British forces during the War of 1812 to take on the American militia for the freedom of enslaved people," she explained.
Rye, however, suggested the anthem itself is problematic because of a certain verse in the poem, which is wrong because a) she referenced the wrong verse, and b) the lines regarding the former slaves are not actually included in the anthem, which was set to music after Scott wrote the original poem.
The lesson here: learn the facts before you claim something is "problematic."