Jay-Z Explains Why He and Beyoncé Didn't Stand During the Super Bowl National Anthem
Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and their daughter Blue Ivy Carter made headlines for their choice not to stand during the National Anthem during the Super Bowl on Sunday. Some believed it was a silent political statement, especially given the NFL’s treatment of former player Colin Kaepernick for taking the knee during the National Anthem when he was in the league. Both Jay-Z and Beyoncé has publicly spoken in support of him in the past.
But actually, there was nothing deep about the move, Jay-Z said during a Columbia University Q&A, according to Page Six. He was asked whether it was meant to be a political statement.
“It actually wasn’t—sorry,” he said. Had they intended to do that, “I’d tell you…I’d say, ‘Yes, that’s what I’ve done.’ I think people know that about me.”
What actually happened is he got caught up with Roc Nation's work as a Super Bowl producer. He wanted to ensure Demi Lovato’s performance went off well.
As Jay-Z explained, “What happened was, we got there, we were sitting, and now the show’s about to start. My wife was with me and so she says to me, ‘I know this feeling right here.’ Like, she’s super-nervous because she’s performed at Super Bowls before. I haven’t. So we get there and we immediately jump into artist mode…now I’m really just looking at the show. Did the mic start? Was it too low to start?…I had to explain to them [that] as an artist, if you don’t feel the music, you can’t really reach that level.”
“So the whole time we’re sitting there, we’re talking about the performance, and then right after that, Demi [Lovato] comes out and we’re talking about how beautiful she looked, and how she sounds and what she’s going through, and her life—for her to be on the stage, we were so proud of her. And then it finished and then my phone rang. And it was like, ‘You know you didn’t …’ I’m like, ‘What?'”
He added that there's no way he'd include his eight-year-old daughter in any protest like that either. “Blue [Ivy] was right next to us, we wouldn’t do that to Blue and put her in that position," he said. "And if anyone who knows Blue … If we told her we were going to do something like that, you would have seen her attacking me 100 times. She’s the kid that gets in the car and closes the door and says, ‘Are we there yet, daddy?’ So she would say, ‘What time? Are we doing it? Are we doing it now? It’s 7:05, daddy … It’s 7:06.'"
You Might Also Like
