Super Bowl 2020: Jay-Z denies staging protest with Beyoncé during national anthem
Rapper said he was in ‘artist mode’ when he stayed seated during show
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Your support makes all the difference.Jay-Z has denied reports that he and Beyoncé were staging a protest by refusing to stand during the US national anthem at the 2020 Super Bowl.
After footage emerged of the couple staying seated for Demi Levato’s rendition of the song, it was suggest that they were protesting in solidarity with former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who famously kneeled during the anthem in 2016 to protest racial inequality and oppression.
The rapper, who produced all the musical performances at the Super Bowl, has now said he and Beyoncé didn’t stand because they were in "artist mode".
During a Columbia University lecture on Tuesday (4 February), he said: "We were talking about how beautiful [Lovato] 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.”
When asked whether their decision to sit down was “meant to convey a signal”, Jay-Z said: “It actually wasn’t – sorry.”
He added that if he had meant it as a political statement, “I’d tell you… I’d say, ‘Yes, that’s what I’ve done.’ I think people know that about me”.
Jay-Z said they would not have planned to protest the national anthem with their eight-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, sitting next to them. “Blue was right next to us,” he said. “We wouldn’t do that to Blue and put her in that position.”
Kaepernick’s protest kick-started a wave of similar actions by predominantly African-American football players, but he was controversially dropped from San Francisco’s team and not drafted again, despite being well-regarded as a player.
Jay-Z and Beyoncé have both expressed support for Kaepernick in the past.
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