Despite everyone’s previous thoughts Jay-Z and Beyoncé were not protesting when they sat during the Super Bowl’s national anthem last Saturday (February 2nd). During an Q&A lecture at Columbia University, the rapper explained that he wasn’t protesting, he was working.
“What happened was, we got there, we were sitting and now the show’s about to start. My wife was with me and so she says to me, ‘I know this feeling right here’. Like, she’s super- nervous because she’s performed at Super Bowls before. I haven’t.
He continued by saying, “So the whole time we’re sitting there, we’re talking about the performance, and then right after that, Demi comes out and we’re talking about how beautiful she looked, and how she sounds and what she’s going through , and her life- for her to be on the stage, we were so proud of her. And then it finished and then my phone rang. And I’m like, ‘What?”
He later added, “ I didn’t have to make a silent protest.. If you look at the stage and the artists that we chose, we were making the loudest statement”.