Jay-Z: Why I Sat Out the National Anthem during the Super Bowl LIV. The popular Rapper and Business Mogul, Jay-Z sent out a message to all of his fans who might have mistaken his action and that of his wife, Beyoncé as an engagement in silent protest, at this year’s Super Bowl.
Jay-Z said “It actually wasn’t. Sorry.”
It should be noted that the high-profile couple received some criticism after a video emerged from the TMZ website showing them sitting along with their 8-year-old daughter, Blue-Ivy while Demi Lovato performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl LIV.
https://www.tmz.com/2020/02/02/beyonce-jay-z-blue-ivy-sit-down-during-super-bowl-national-anthem/
On Tuesday, Jay-Z addressed the incidence during an appearance at the Columbia University in New York City.
According to the mogul, the whole thing “was not premeditated at all,” but was instead a case of him doing his job given that his Roc Nation Corporation has a partnership with the NFL which includes producing the Super Bowl halftime show and other major performances.
He said his wife, who was a featured performer at the Super Bowl in 2013 and 2016, was offering him some insight about the experience and they were seated from the time Yolanda Adams sang “America the Beautiful” before Lovato sang the National Anthem.
He further said that: “So, we get there, and we immediately jump into artist mode,” he said. “So, I’m looking at the show. ‘Did our mic start? Was it too low to start?’… ‘Is it too many speakers on the floor?'”
“So, the whole time we’re sitting there and we’re talking about the performance,” he added.
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He also said he would never put his young daughter in the position of being part of a protest.
“We were making the biggest, loudest protest of all,” Jay-Z said. “Given the context, I didn’t have to make a silent protest.”
https://www.tmz.com/videos/020620-tmz-live-common-0-kzg0kx9o/