Prior to the announcement of the Inspire Change initiative that paired Roc Nation and the NFL, Rihanna decided not to do any of her hit songs at the NFL’s 2019 Super Bowl. In her interview in the November Vogue issue, she shared that although she had been invited to perform at the halftime show, she was cool as a cucumber on the idea.
“I couldn’t dare do that,” she tells the fashion bible. “For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.
“People are being murdered by war weapons that they legally purchase. This is just not normal,” she said. “That should never, ever be normal. And the fact that it’s classified as something different because of the color of their skin? It’s a slap in the face. It’s completely racist. Put an Arab man with that same weapon in that same Walmart and there is no way that Trump would sit there and address it publicly as a mental health problem. The most mentally ill human being in America right now seems to be the president.”
Rihanna took this stance in a move of solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback who has been basically based and blacklisted after taking a knee in protest of police brutality and racism during the National Anthem in 2016.
A source has clarified Rihanna turned down the previous Super Bowl performance that ultimately brought the combination of Maroon 5 and Travis Scott to the stage. Details also include Rihanna’s interview with Vogue was conducted prior to the announcement deal between Roc Nation and the NFL, leaving her blind to the announcement from JAY-Z and Roger Goodell.
Ri Ri, according to Pop Sugar, will also be releasing a 500-plus-page visual autobiography later this month. J-Lo and Shakira will be performing in Miami at the Super Bowl, and JAY-Z is responsible for making it fly.
