
Super Bowl LVI was one of the best matches this NFL season, but the real hype around the Super Bowl was its amazing Halftime show. The show had Hip hop legends Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and a surprise appearance by 50-Cent. The show also had 9-time Grammy award winner Mary J. Blige perform along with the Hip hop stars.
Amidst the amazing show, there was controversy surrounding Eminem kneeling during the show. The kneel is controversial because, in 2016, the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem as a protest against police brutality and racism. The quarterback was heavily criticized for his actions and was even accused of disrespecting the American flag. Kaepernick became a free agent after that season and remains unsigned to this date.
The protests against racism and police brutality have since gained momentum and grew especially when George Floyd was choked to death by a police officer (Derek Chauvin) in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 25 May 2020. The murder saw athletes, celebrities and people of colour all across the country come together and stand in solidarity against social injustice. The NBA in particular was extremely open to listening to players’ suggestions regarding how they wished to protest and even allowed players to boycott games in protest.
The NFL has admitted to not listening to their players and has mishandled the issues of systemic racism. Regarding Eminem kneeling the league released a statement saying that they knew the rapper was going to kneel and had no issue with it. League spokesperson Brian McCarthy said, “We watched all elements of the show during multiple rehearsals this week and were aware that Eminem was going to do that,”. Hopefully, the NFL has learned its lesson from previous mistakes and can handle issues of players protesting injustice much better.