Jay-Z Responds To Critics After He Sat Down During The National Anthem At Super Bowl

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Rapper Jay-Z stayed seated during the national anthem at Sunday’s Superbowl LIV, and he’s since spoken out addressing theories that it was a ‘silent protest’. 

Following his decision to not stand up, people questioned the 50-year-old’s motives but he’s since spoken out explaining why.

The rapper’s reasoning was because he was intensely watching the show his record company, Roc Nation, had played a part in organising.

PA images

Speaking at a Q&A at Colombia University in New York, the star was asked if he was trying to send a message by not standing, to which he answered that he ‘actually wasn’t’.

According to Fox News, Jay-Z went on to say:

We get there and we immediately jump into artist mode, so now I’m just really looking at the show. Did the mics start? Was it too low to start?

The whole time, we’re sitting there, we’re talking about the performance and 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 in her life for her to be on the stage, we’re so proud of her.

The rapper, who attended the event with his wife, Beyoncé, 38, and daughter Blue Ivy, eight, said he ‘really wanted to feel the music’.

Niamh Shackleton

He also went on to say that by having Colombian and Puerto Rican singers Shakira and Jennifer Lopez was a protest in itself.

Jay-Z added:

It just happened. I didn’t have to make a silent protest. If you look at the stage, the artists that we chose, Colombian [Shakira], Puerto Rican [JLo] … we were making the biggest, loudest protest of all.

Prior to his explanation, the celebrity pair received backlash online for these decision to stay seated.

One person tweeted:

I am so ashamed of #Beyoncé and Jay Z! They are so fortunate to live in this great country. They need to live somewhere else if they can’t bother to stand for the National Athem [sic]. #SuperBowl 

Someone else tweeted:

Jay Z and Beyoncé sat during the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. Seems to me, the people who benefit the most from this country also have the most hate for it…

Beyoncé received criticism for the same reason recently when the singer chose to stay seated as Joaquin Phoenix went up to accept his Golden Globe award and received a standing ovation – from everyone but her.

While Beyoncé didn’t explain why she stayed seated, many on social media dubbed it ‘rude’.

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Niamh Shackleton

Niamh Shackleton is a pint sized person and journalist at UNILAD. After studying Multimedia Journalism at the University of Salford, she did a year at Caters News Agency as a features writer in Birmingham before deciding that Manchester is (arguably) one of the best places in the world, and therefore moved back up north. She’s also UNILAD’s unofficial crazy animal lady.