The Newark Bears will have to pay a nice settlement in this case, because the organization unlawfully threw three (3) teenagers out of a recent Newark Bears minor league baseball game, because the teenagers refused to stand for the singing of "God Bless America." The game was being played at Newark's Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium which is owned by Essex County, a state actor.
The State cannot force someone to stand for the singing of a song that was first created in 1938 by Kate Smith and then again in the early 1970s by the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team. There is no Constitutional or legal authority that can force someone to honor a song that has not even existed 75 years! If the stadium was completely private, then the owner might have a case.
If an NBA owner threw fans out of a public stadium, because they refused to stand for James Brown's "Living in America," then that NBA owner and arena could expect a lawsuit against them. The Yankees certainly learned the hard way when it kicked fans out who tried to walk out of a "God Bless America" song. The Newark Bears and its owner will also learn this very expensive lesson, because the teenagers have filed a lawsuit.
Source: NJ.com
The State cannot force someone to stand for the singing of a song that was first created in 1938 by Kate Smith and then again in the early 1970s by the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team. There is no Constitutional or legal authority that can force someone to honor a song that has not even existed 75 years! If the stadium was completely private, then the owner might have a case.
If an NBA owner threw fans out of a public stadium, because they refused to stand for James Brown's "Living in America," then that NBA owner and arena could expect a lawsuit against them. The Yankees certainly learned the hard way when it kicked fans out who tried to walk out of a "God Bless America" song. The Newark Bears and its owner will also learn this very expensive lesson, because the teenagers have filed a lawsuit.
In a lawsuit filed last week in federal court in Newark, three Millburn High School students contend Newark Bears president and co-owner Thomas Cetnar berated them, cursed at them and then booted them from the ballpark after they failed to stand for the song during the seventh-inning stretch.
"Nobody sits during the singing of 'God Bless America' in my stadium,'" Cetnar bellowed during the June 29 incident, according to the suit. "Now the get the (expletive) out of here."
Source: NJ.com
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