Jay-Z and Beyoncé were seen sitting down during the national anthem at the Super Bowl, which was picked up by cameras, and they’re now receiving backlash for it. Colin Kaepernick and his girlfriend Nessa Diab have also reacted.
On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, where Demi Lovato sang the “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Jay-Z is currently working with the NFL on its social justice initiatives, as well as entertainment, and he co-produced the halftime show that featured Jennifer Lopez and Shakira.
The rapper and Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy was at the big game as well, and she sat with her folks during the national anthem.
“They are disgraceful,” someone tweeted. “Thank goodness I never bought any of their [music.]”
Conservative political commentator Tomi Lahren, who’s practically made calling out Jay-Z and Beyoncé over the years a part-time job, also took issue.
“Beyoncé & Jay-Z (former crack dealer) sit for the national anthem because apparently the United States of America has oppressed them with millions upon millions of dollars & fans,” she wrote. “Maybe they should try another country that allows them a little more freedom & success?”
“You hate police, Donald Trump, and the spirit of this nation so much you can’t pick your privileged asses off the chair for 2 mins to pay some respect? wrote Lahren in a separate tweet. “Despicable.”
Kaepernick and Diab’s response to Jay-Z and Beyoncé sitting down has to do with comments Jay made in August of 2019 when his NFL partnership was announced.
Kaepernick began kneeling for “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 2016 to protest racism against black people, as well as police brutality. He became surrounded in controversy afterwards, and by the end of that season he opted out of his contract. He hasn’t played in the NFL since then.
“We’ve moved past kneeling. I think it’s time to go into actionable items,” said Jay-Z in August.
“I thought we were past kneeling tho?” read a message Kaepernick’ reposted to his Instagram Story on Sunday.
Diab posted the exact same message to her Instagram Story at pretty much the same time.
Afterwards, there were a good number of people who sided with Kaepernick and Diab, but there were also a lot of folks who said they don’t understand that more than kneeling has to be done for change to happen.
“The fact that they don’t understand what he meant when he said ‘we are past kneeling’ is annoying,” someone wrote on Instagram. “He didn’t mean to stop kneeling or sitting he meant let’s take action now besides just kneeling. Why is this so hard to comprehend? Lol smh.”
“I get where Jay coming from,” wrote someone else. “Kneeling brought attention to the injustice but that’s all it did so now that we kno about it what’s next what we do now cause kneeling brought the attention so now we need action,” wrote someone else.
“Yet, he’s trying to play in the NFL again 🙄 gtfoh,” another person wrote about Kaepernick and the workout he held for NFL scouts in November.
