Macy Gray doubles down on calls to replace US flag as Capitol rioters ‘held it up as their symbol’

Singer says flag has come to represent ‘divisiveness and hate’

Macy Gray has continued her campaign to redesign the American flag, citing the Capitol riot as a sign of its use as a symbol of hate.

Earlier this week, the “I Try” singer divided opinion as she suggested that the stars and stripes should be replaced as it “no longer represents democracy and freedom”.

Gray said that the flag was “tattered, dated, divisive, and incorrect” and no longer represented all people. “It’s not fair to be forced to honour it,” she wrote. “It’s time for a new flag.”

In a new interview with Fox 11, the singer doubled down on her criticism, asking: “Why do we have to celebrate a flag that now represents divisiveness and hate?”

Referencing the Capitol riots, which took place in January, she continued: “The people there held it up as their symbol, as, ‘This is what America represents. We’re threatening to hang the vice president and our gang sign is the flag.’”

The redesign that Gray believes should be used would see the stripes displayed in an “off-white” rather than white, as the 53-year-old believes America is not pure but “broken and in pieces”.

She also says that the flag should include 52 stars, including DC and Puerto Rico. The stars, she argued, could be the “colours of ALL of us… like the melanin scale”.