By Talia Mullin / Original to ScheerPost
During last weekend’s Super Bowl Halftime show featuring Kendrick Lamar, one of the rapper’s hundreds of backup dance performers raised Palestinian and Sudanese flags. Though some speculated that the protester had trespassed on the performance, his position as a dancer has been confirmed by the Guardian, who reported that the individual was apprehended and ejected from the event though no legal action was taken. Social media has continued to react to the incident as well as the show in the days that have followed.
The moment can be seen in the NFL’s coverage on the top left stage as Lamar sings the lyrics “a minor” and into the first chorus of his five time grammy winning song “Not Like Us.” As Serena Williams dances the infamous Crip walk, the flags are visible waving in the back on the square performance space. The athlete’s cameo is one of many easter eggs in Lamar’s performance and a reminder of when doing this same Compton original dance as celebration at the Olympics made Williams the subject of controversy and gang-related allegations.
The flags can be seen multiple times in the background of the performance as Lamar welcomes American record producer, Mustard, until the man is tackled and taken off the field. The moment when the individual is taken down and dragged off by security is visible on the right hand side of the frame (12:30 time stamp) in the NFL’s coverage just before Lamar gives the final bars of his performance.
Additional angles of the apprehension can be seen here.
The individual was ejected from the stadium but “no arrest [was made] nor summons was issued” according to a statement from the New Orleans police department. Though the police opted to keep the person’s identity anonymous, the activist, Zül-Qarnain Nantambu, identified himself.
In a conversation with the Intercept, Nantambu explained how he asked himself if he was going to be “a coward” or “be brave and take a stand” just before he took the stage with 400 other performers and decided to wave the two flags that read “Gaza” and “Sudan.”
Nantambu continued: “I don’t get caught up in politics or anything. What’s going on in these places are inhumane. The civil war in Sudan, the oppression and the war and the tyranny that’s going on in Gaza, is inhumane. And these people are connected with us all as humans, and especially with me in faith.”
Nantambu said he had been inspired by the rapper’s revolutionary messaging. He explained:
“Looking at Kendrick Lamar’s performance, when he was talking about revolution, because we were at practice. So I’m seeing the performance. … I’m seeing him talk about the revolution is not going to be televised. … This is a lot bigger than all of us, bigger than me, bigger than the Super Bowl, bigger than Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s beef, because humanity is involved.”
NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said that Nantambu will be “banned for life from all NFL stadiums and events” after his unveiling of the hidden flags late in the show unbeknownst to production.
Roc Nation, the entertainment company that produced the show, also provided a statement stating the action was, “was neither planned nor part of the production and was never in any rehearsal.” Lamar has not voiced support or criticism for Nantambu’s protest and has not spoken on the situations in Palestine or Sudan.
The apprehension was not the only politically charged moment, as President Donald Trump made history as the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl game. The president’s attendance was made known the same day that the NFL announced the removal of the phrase “End Racism” from the SuperBowl end zones, which have been a staple since 2021.
With the current U.S. president in attendance and the end zone stencils removed, Lamar’s halftime show kept on with the political imagery through his stage design, color scheme, written messages and lyrics.
The spectacle began with Samuel L. Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam welcoming the crowd to the “Great American Game.” Lamar had wanted the performance to portray his life as a video game so each of the four stages were designed to represent the buttons of a PlayStation controller.
Lamar’s rap intro, which is alleged to be his unreleased track, “Bodies,” had the closing lines of “…the revolution about to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy.”
Here he makes clear reference to Gill-Scott Heron’s Black liberation poem, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” which explains how major societal change happens outside of corporations or mainstream media that does not commonly show the violence that Black communities face.
Some social media users have said that the line, “wrong guy,” was a dig at President Trump though Lamar has not made his intention clear. However, following the performance of his song “DNA,” the crowd lit up with words reading “Warning Wrong Way” implying that the direction of his show — or the country as viewers have interpreted — were headed in the wrong direction.
Additionally, the all-Black dance cast which accompanied Lamar as he moved across the set — that at times also resembled a prison yard — were dressed in red, white and blue. At one point, the camera pans to Lamar standing in the middle of a divided American flag created by the dancers.
Jackson as Uncle Sam continued to narrate the entire performance with racialized language; heckling the opening number of “Squabble Up” saying it was “too loud, too reckless” and “too ghetto,” telling a “scorekeeper [to] deduct one life” after making comments about him bringing his “homeboys” as a “cultural cheat code” and even begging Lamar to be “calm” and not to play his controversial hit “Not Like Us.”
The lyrics to the Grammy-winning diss track against fellow rapper Drake are currently the focus of a defamation lawsuit for the bars that claim the artist and his entourage are “certified pedophiles.”
Just before performing the hit song Lamar raps, “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music.” This is a clear reference to the reparations promised to formerly enslaved Black families in the 1860s that never came to fruition as well as Lamar’s way of telling the audience that there is more to his performance than just the music.
For those paying attention, the political and cultural imagery was there and deeply impactful. Inspiring enough for some like Nantambu to take a stand for humanity. However, for conservative pundits, the performance was met with distaste, mocking or complete misinterpretation.
There is no denying that Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl appearance made history as it was the most-watched halftime show to date. However, for many viewers, specifically Black communities, it was a brave political message to concerned people to encourage them in their fight against inequality and for a better country for all.
Co-host of Injustice Watch, Charles Preston, shared his thoughts on the situation in a post to X.
Featured Image from Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
Please share this story and help us grow our network!
Editor’s Note: At a moment when the once vaunted model of responsible journalism is overwhelmingly the play thing of self-serving billionaires and their corporate scribes, alternatives of integrity are desperately needed, and ScheerPost is one of them. Please support our independent journalism by contributing to our online donation platform, Network for Good, or send a check to our new PO Box. We can’t thank you enough, and promise to keep bringing you this kind of vital news.
You can also make a donation to our PayPal or subscribe to our Patreon.
