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Jay Z insists he wasn’t protesting Super Bowl by sitting through national anthem because he was working
JAY-Z has claimed that he and wife Beyoncé weren’t protesting against racism in the NFL when they were caught sitting down during the National Anthem on Super Bowl Sunday.
The 50-year-old rap mogul insists the pair “immediately jumped into artist mode” when the performance began and he was too busy focusing on his work as the Super Bowl’s live music entertainment strategist.
Speaking at a Q&A held at Columbia University on Tuesday, the Empire State of Mind rapper explained: “It actually wasn’t [a protest]. Sorry.
“I’m really just looking at the show. The mics stars. Was it too low to start?”
He claimed that his superstar wife – who previously performed at the Super Bowl in 2013 – was sharing what she thought was going through Demi’s head in the seconds before she started singing.
The hip hop star continued: “We were talking about how beautiful she looks and how she sounds and what she’s gone through in her life for her to be on the stage and we’re so proud of her.”
Jay-Z’s Roc Nation is now producing all the of the entertainment provided at Super Bowls as part of a big money deal the rapper signed with the NFL last year.
So he had a hand in not only Demi’s performance of the anthem, but also Yolanda Adams’ performance of America the Beautiful, as well as the Halftime Show featuring Shakira and Jennifer Lopez.
In a clip of the chat reported on by TMZ, the rapper went on to insist that he let the other artists make their political protests during their performances.
He stated: “I didn’t have to make a silent protest. If you look at the stage and the artists that we chose — Colombian [Shakira] and Puerto Rican J.Lo — we were making the loudest statement.
“And we had a commercial running [on] social injustice during the Super Bowl … Given the context, I didn’t have to make a silent protest.”
However, the pair’s decision to remain seated did not go down well with many on social media.
The decision drew the ire of former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick who was still unimpressed by Jay’s earlier comment that the sport stars approach of kneeling during the anthem was ineffective.
While the likes of Wendy Williams also slammed the couple for not standing up like the rest of the country.
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Wendy snapped: “You understand all eyes are on you, and you shoulda stood up. If you don’t like our country, then…”
She left the end of her statement open, but she sat back in her chair, shrugged up and down, crossed her arms and glared, making it clear to viewers what she was about to say.