N.F.L. Was ‘Conscious’ Eminem Deliberate to Kneel Throughout Halftime Present

In 2019, the N.F.L. partnered with Roc Nation, the leisure and sports activities firm led by Jay-Z, partially to reinvigorate the Super Bowl halftime show and, because the league mentioned in a press release saying the deal, “to amplify the league’s social justice efforts.”

At this yr’s halftime present, the third underneath Roc Nation’s steerage, Los Angeles rap icons Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar, in addition to the singer Mary J. Blige delivered a lively performance. Nevertheless it was the rapper Eminem who could have made the largest assertion of the evening, and never together with his voice: He knelt on one knee and held his head in his hand after performing “Lose Your self,” his anthem about self-determination from the film “8 Mile.”

The transfer was an obvious nod to the previous San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who took a knee in the course of the taking part in of the nationwide anthem in the course of the 2016 season to protest police brutality and racial inequity. Different N.F.L. gamers adopted swimsuit, prompting debate throughout the league about whether or not these gamers must be penalized, and drawing rebuke from the president on the time, Donald J. Trump.

After Kaepernick opted out of his 49ers contract in 2017 and was unable to search out one other quarterbacking job, he accused the N.F.L. of colluding to blacklist him however settled the suit with the league in 2019.

The dispute led many artists to keep away from the halftime present in help of Kaepernick.

A league spokesman, Brian McCarthy, mentioned on Sunday that the N.F.L. was conscious that Eminem was going to kneel as a result of officers “watched it throughout rehearsals this week.”

McCarthy mentioned that gamers, coaches and personnel had been free to have taken a knee earlier than Sunday’s sport and that nobody has been disciplined for taking a knee.

Roc Nation declined to touch upon what Eminem supposed to sign.