Dr Dre says NFL had ‘no problem’ with Eminem taking the knee at Super Bowl halftime show

But rapper admits group had to make ‘really minor changes’ to widely-praised performance

Dr Dre has said the NFL did not try to stop Eminem from taking the knee during their Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday (13 February).

The 56-year-old rapper led the night’s widely-praised performance with headliners Eminem, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J Blige.

Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, took the knee at the end of a rendition of “Lose Yourself”, which also included Dr Dre, and Anderson .Paak on drums. This was followed by media reports that the NFL had censored parts of the group’s performance to side-step political backlash or controversy.

On 13 February, Puck reported that the league raised concerns over some aspects of their performance, including Eminem’s decision to kneel in solidarity with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the lyrics of Dr Dre’s song “F*** The Police”, and an item of Snoop Dogg’s wardrobe, which the NFL felt might be perceived as being gang-related.

But Dr Dre clarified that “there was no problem” with Eminem taking the knee in a new interview with TMZ.

On Monday (14 February), a spokesperson for the NFL also denied the rumours that the organisers had tried to stop Eminem from kneeling, explaining that they “were aware Eminem was going to do that”.

Dr Dre admitted that they had to make a few changes at the NFL’s request but clarified that these were “really minor things”.

The superstar rapper and Beats founder revealed that the league wanted to remove references to Los Angeles gangs in one of Kendrick Lamar’s songs but that was “no big deal”.

“All in all, everybody came in, we were professional. Everybody was on time and really felt the magnitude of what this thing [their performance] was, and what we were going to be able to accomplish,” he continued.

The political act of “taking the knee” was popularised by Kaepernick, who started kneeling during the pre-game national anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality.

While other NFL players also adopted Kaepernick’s gesture, the league came under fire for its reaction to the protest. Though he prompted the movement, Kaepernick – a star quarterback – has not played in the NFL since the 2016 season ended.

Puck had previously reported that Dr Dre felt “disgustingly censored” by the league in the run-up to the power-packed halftime show, citing a source close to the rapper.

You can read The Independent’s review of the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show here.