During Sunday’s Super Bowl in Miami, famed entertainers and celebrity couple Beyoncé Knowles and Jay-Z both remained seated during the National Anthem. This has drawn the ire of Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-01).

In a statement to Yellowhammer News on Monday, Byrne contrasted Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s snub of the anthem with the 100-year-old Tuskegee Airman who delivered the coin to the referee on the field for the coin toss before the big game.

“Last night during the Super Bowl, we saw our nation’s cultural divide right before our eyes,” Byrne lamented.

“We honored members of the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American pilots from right here in Alabama who fought in World War II,” he outlined. “And we also saw entitled celebrities, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, use the Super Bowl to dishonor our country and all those who served by refusing to stand during our National Anthem.”

Byrne concluded, “We have to ask ourselves: what kind of nation do we want to be? A nation that honors American patriots, or one that celebrates the dishonorable, anti-America trend that disrespects those who have served and fought to protect our values? These celebrities and entitled athletes are too self-absorbed to recognize how fortunate they are to live in America, let alone honor our war heroes during the National Anthem.”

Byrne is a U.S. Senate candidate competing for the Republican nomination during Alabama’s March 3 primary. He, along with fellow candidate and former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville, previously has criticized kneeling during the National Anthem in one of his video advertisements during the campaign cycle.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn