In possibly the most mystifying public relations move of the Super Bowl, musician Harry Belafonte was chosen to deliver a “message of unity” just before kickoff. As with all media, we should view not only the text but the context to make sense of this choice. That’s because the choice of Belafonte was nothing short of bizarre.

Belafonte opened with some familiar words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

He returned later in the spot, saying, “In 1974, the great American artist Johnny Cash wrote of our ‘Ragged Old Flag.’ Ragged and old from the conflict and suffering that came from our fight for freedom. Pride in our flag, freedom’s symbol, should now inspire us to keep striving to become a more perfect union.”

On its own, the text is terrific. It speaks to some of the greatest American values: to always be striving to be better people, better Americans, and better as a nation.

Except there’s the context to consider, and that sullies the message.

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The context is supposed to celebrate America during a time of needless strife over President Donald Trump’s election. Yet Belafonte has made some of the most hateful and racist public comments that completely undermine whatever message he was supposed to deliver.

Nobody bothered to check out Belafonte’s 2012 interview with Roland Martin. Belafonte quoted those very same words from the Declaration of Independence, and then said, “You look at the minds that could create that phraseology that pushed an idea; and at the same time, these very same men were holders of slaves and cruelly subjected people to a second-class life of second-class citizenry. That was an evil — something villainous.”

Wait. What? How did this get past the researchers?

In December, before a crowd of 2,000 at a “Democracy Now!” event, Belafonte said, “In a few weeks from now, if there is a platform on which I will be privileged to stand and speak, my opening remarks will probably be something like, ‘Welcome to the Fourth Reich.'”

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A more perfect union? Interesting.

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Back in 2002, Belafonte said the following about Colin Powell: “Colin Powell’s permitted to come into the house of the master. When Colin Powell dares to suggest something other than what the master wants to hear, he will be turned back out to pasture.”

Not only that, he also said of Condoleeza Rice, “If she were a Jew and were doing things that were anti-Semitic and against the best interests of people, that would also stand the same way.” That is, after he previously referred to her as a “house slave.”

These comments were so awful that even leftist online publication Salon.com took him to task.

In 2008, he had to walk back statements that “Hitler had a lot of Jews high up in the hierarchy of the Third Reich.” He also compared blacks working in the Bush administration to the same. Nice.

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Belafonte was also a big fan of the murderous duo of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. More than 10 years ago, Belafonte took his banana boat on down to Venezuela with Danny Glover and Cornel West in tow. There, he said that then-President George W. Bush was “the greatest terrorist in the world … not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the American people … support your revolution.” He said this while he was running around town with people like Castro and Chavez.

There’s little doubt about how Belafonte actually feels about America, about Jews, conservative black people, and communist dictators. While the Super Bowl ad should be commended for celebrating America during one of the biggest sports days of the year, it needs to be a lot more circumspect about whom it chooses to deliver patriotic messages.

Using a real patriot might be a good place to start.