Jay-Z Denies That He Was Making A Political Statement By Sitting During The National Anthem
Hear ye! Hear ye! Jay-Z needs to clear something up! At the Super Bowl on Sunday, Jay-Z and Beyoncé sat during Demi Lovato‘s performance of The National Anthem. Many rolled their eyes at Jay-Z’s empty gesture since he previously said that “we” were past kneeling. Well, listen up, Jay-Z and his family were in no way, shape or form protesting police brutality and making a statement about the atrocities black people face in America. They were NOT. Do not get it twisted. They were only thinking of the capitalist venture of which they were a part of. That’s it! Jay-Z spoke at Columbia University and let the world know that he only cares about the Super Bowl! Okay?!
Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation signed a deal (which got him majority ownership of a team) with the NFL to produce events, including the Super Bowl Halftime Show, and help them with “social justice” issues. Many saw Jay-Z’s deal as him turning his back on people like former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who shone a spotlight on police brutality by kneeling during The National Anthem at games. Despite criticism from Colin himself suggesting it was just another billionaire selling out to The Man, Jay promised this was about the people! This was about supporting good causes–like cutting black people’s dreads off.
Enter: Super Bowl LIV. Jay’s Roc Nation reportedly clashed with Jennifer Lopez about her using children in cages during her Halftime Show set to make a statement about the border crisis. It seems that Roc Nation wanted zero displays of political commentary during the event, and that includes Bey and Jay’s National Anthem-sitting.
TMZ says Jay was at Columbia University and talked about that video showing him sitting down, and he promises it was not political. When asked if it was meant to show anything, his reply was:
“It actually wasn’t. Sorry.”
Jay says he and Beyoncé were focused on the show at hand with Beyoncé relaying to him important technical aspects of the show because she “performed at the Super Bowl before, and I haven’t.” He said:
“We immediately jumped into artist mode… I’m really just looking at the show. The mics start. Was it too low to start?”
He cares because the Roc Nation/NFL deal involves all aspects of the entertainment at Super Bowls: National Anthems included, and also when Yolanda Adams sang America The Beautiful.
Jay claimed there was no need to “silent protest” because the Halftime Show was “making the biggest loudest protest of all” through their “diverse” group of artists. Which… is debatable. Highly. Especially considering he allegedly told one of those diverse performers to tone it down.
Sources tell TMZ that Jay never gave up the real reason for his sitting because he thought he’d get shit from Kaepernick supporters:
Sources close to the situation tell us Jay knew revealing the real reason he sat might spark new criticism from Colin Kaepernick supporters — some of whom took Sunday’s video as a sign Jay was backtracking on his “We’ve moved past kneeling” remark.
We’re told he still opted to address it during the Columbia Q&A session because he didn’t want anyone to misconstrue his actions.
Consider us construed! Protesting police brutality is not what you were doing and you are only interested in making millions of dollars off the show which should not be interrupted by any sort of political statement. Clarified. Now tell us what we really wanna know: who was Blue Ivy texting?
Pic: TMZ Sports