Rihanna and Amy stand with Colin
Singer reportedly declines to do Super Bowl halftime show
Pop superstar Rihanna declined an offer to perform at a Super Bowl halftime show because she supported former National Football League quarterback Colin Kaepernick and his protest against racial injustice, according to media reports.
Don’t look for Amy Schumer in any Super Bowl commercials either this time around. She’s sitting this one out as she stands with Kaepernick.
US Weekly and other reports cited an unnamed source as saying that the NFL and broadcaster CBS Corp “really wanted Rihanna to be next year’s performer.” However, she declined in support of Kaepernick, the first player to kneel as the national anthem played at a game in protest over racial inequality and police brutality against black people and minorities in the United States.
“They offered it to her, but she said no because of the kneeling controversy. She doesn’t agree with the NFL’s stance,” the source told US Weekly.
Rihanna’s decision to reject the offer over a political issue follows her Instagram message earlier this month urging fans to vote in the November US congressional elections. She is one of several celebrities who have taken political stances ahead of the voting.
The Super Bowl is the year’s mostwatched US television broadcast of the year, regularly drawing more than 100 million viewers. The game will be played on February 3, 2019, in Atlanta, Georgia. Representatives for the NFL and Rihanna did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
An unnamed source told Entertainment Tonight that the NFL approached both Rihanna and singer Pink early in its halftime show discussions, but that both women moved on when the negotiations took a long time. That source said Kaepernick did not come up in those early conversations.
HEATED DEBATE
Kaepernick’s decision to begin kneeling during the anthem in 2016 sparked a heated national debate, with critics including US President Donald Trump calling the players unpatriotic.
Schumer explained her stance at length Friday on Instagram, challenging white NFL players to kneel as well. Addressing them directly, she wrote: “Otherwise how are you not complicit?”
“I personally told my reps I wouldn’t do a Super Bowl commercial this year,” Schumer wrote. “I know it must sound like a privilege... sacrifice but it’s all I got.”
Diddy, Jessica Seinfeld and Christie Brinkley offered her support among more than 8,000 comments left on her post.