By James Crowley
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Jay-Z clarified why he did not stand during the national anthem at the Super Bowl, saying it wasn't premeditated and that he wouldn't put his daughter Blue Ivy in that position.
While some people thought that Jay-Z and Beyoncé Knowles sitting was an act of solidarity with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who faced backlash when he began kneeling during The Star Spangled Banner in 2016, Jay-Z told a Columbia University class on Monday that that wasn't the case, according to Billboard.
"It was not premeditated at all," he told the class.
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The rapper and mogul explained that he played a big role in the musical performance in the Super Bowl due to his company Roc Nation's partnership with the NFL and that he was in "artist mode" as Demi Lovato's performance began. "I'm looking at the show. 'Did our mic start? Was it too low to start? Is it too many speakers on the floor?' So the whole time we're sitting there, and we're talking about the performance," he said. "And then right after that, Demi comes out, and we're talking about how beautiful she looked and how she sound[ed], and what she's going through in her life for her to be on the stage and we're so proud of her."
The 4:44 rapper cited his daughter as the reason he wouldn't have staged a protest. "We wouldn't do that to Blue and put her in that position," he said. He later added that his daughter probably would have given away a planned silent protest. "If we told her we were gonna do something like that, you would have seen her tapping me a hundred times. She's the kid that gets in the car and closes the door and says, 'We there yet, Daddy?' So, she would say, 'What time? Are we doing it?'"
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On Sunday, Kaepernick shared the Instagram story of Tampa Bay Buccaneers Brent Grimes' wife Miko, which she posted TMZ's story about Jay-Z and Beyoncé sitting during the anthem. "I thought we were 'past kneeling' though," Grimes' story said. When Jay-Z's Roc Nation first made their deal with the NFL, the rapper said the partnership was "the next phase" of Kaepernick's mission. Still Jay-Z told reporters: "I think we've moved past kneeling," in a press conference after signing the deal, according to The Washington Post.
Jay-Z also cited bringing Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, and other Latin artists to the halftime show constituted a protest along with the Roc Nation co-produced PSA for the Botham Jean Foundation, a non-profit founded in honor of Botham Jean who was shot in his apartment by a Dallas police officer. The commercial brings awareness to police brutality.
"We were making the biggest, loudest protest of all," he said. "Given the context, I didn't have to make a silent protest.
Roc Nation did not immediately respond to request for comment.
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