CNN’s Don Lemon sings song known as Black national anthem on air ahead of Super Bowl 

CNN anchor Don Lemon serenaded the network’s audience on Friday with a rendition of “Lift Every Voice,” known widely as the Black national anthem.

During a taped interview with actor and singer Sheryl Lee Ralph, who will be preforming the song before Sunday’s Super Bowl, Lemon broke out in song.

“I don’t know. I was — I felt like I should do it in the taping. Now, why did I do that?” Lemon told his co-hosts when “CNN This Morning” cut back to the studio.

“Well, you made our day. Our week,” co-anchor Poppy Harlow said.

“Yeah, look, that we sang that every — not every day, but we sang it a lot,” Lemon said. “I went to an all Black Catholic school when I was a kid. I was fortunate enough to be able to go to parochial school, and it was an all Black school because this was right after desegregation in the South. I think it was maybe ten years or so that my high school was desegregated before I went to it. But, so I learned that song … when it started to become the Black national anthem.”

Lemon was tapped last year along with Harlow and reporter Kaitlin Collins by new CNN President Chris Licht to host a revamped morning news program, amid ratings struggles and a string of controversies within the network’s talent and leadership ranks in recent years.

Lemon, one of CNN’s most recognizable personalities, has pushed back on buzz within the media business that he was demoted or the cable news giant’s leadership is trying to pull the network to the political center.

CNN’s new morning show has also faced a string of tabloid headlines in recent weeks suggesting a rift between Lemon and other anchors on the show.