Super Bowl LIV: Beyoncé, Jay-Z and Blue Ivy slammed for sitting down during National Anthem
In her second live performance since her alleged overdose, Demi Lovato gripped the stadium and viewers worldwide with her rendition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner'. As she sang the national anthem, the Carter family remained seated, seemingly in protest.
Beyoncé, Jay-Z and their daughter Blue Ivy remained seated during the whole performance despite the people around them standing for the anthem. It is still unclear why the family chose to sit this one out. Watch the video here.
Jay-Z has had to deal with significant backlash following his lucrative partnership with the NFL in 2019 as many saw this as an act of betrayal towards Colin Kaepernick who famously protested by kneeling during the anthem on several occasions, a choice that has allegedly gotten him blackballed by many organizations — including the NFL.
Ever since the partnership was reported, fans have been calling Jay-Z out for using activism and Black Lives Matter to move his own career forward. One user tweets, "Anybody who tried to defend Jay Z NFL like that wasn’t a selfish get money partnership get the side eye from me."
Jay-Z, for his part, claims the partnership was a way to use the platform that the NFL has to raise awareness against police brutality. Speaking about the negative backlash he added, "As long as real people are being hurt and marginalized and losing family members, then yes, I can take a couple rounds of negative press."
Speaking specifically about Kaepernick's protest, Jay-Z said, "No one is saying he hasn't been done wrong. He was done wrong... I would understand if it was three months ago. But it was three years ago and someone needs to say, 'What do we do now — because people are still dying?"
Many were unhappy with the rapper's choices, especially after top artists like Rihanna boycotted the league for their treatment of Kaepernick.
Jay-Z's entertainment agency, Roc Nation, partnered with the NFL in the hope that they would be able to encourage more diversity at the show, and given that both Jennifer Lopez and Shakira are clients of Roc Nation and performed at the halftime show with performances that clearly had a political undertone directed at the Trump's policies, it seems that Roc Nation and Jay-Z intend to keep their word.
But to many fans and Black Lives Matter activists, it's hard to get past Jay-Z's 'betrayal'.