(CNN) For years, baseball's New York Yankees and hockey's Philadelphia Flyers have played singer Kate Smith's famous rendition of "God Bless America" during games.

But those long-time traditions have been halted over allegations that other songs performed by Smith -- one of America's biggest singing stars during the early 20th century -- are racist.

Smith is closely tied to the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers because she performed "God Bless America" before Flyers games in the 1970s . A year after her 1986 death, the team erected a statue in her honor outside of its arena.

Now the team won't play her version of the song during games and will cover up her statue.

"We have recently become aware that several songs performed by Kate Smith contain offensive lyrics that do not reflect our values as an organization," the Flyers said in a statement to CNN.

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