Eminem kneels during Super bowl half time performance
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US rapper Eminem takes a knee during his NFL 2022 Super Bowl halftime performance and creates controversy.
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Famous US rapper Eminem during the NFL's 2022 Super Bowl halftime performance
Famous US rapper Eminem took NFL's 2022 Super Bowl halftime performance to a whole new level this year, after kneeling in protest of police brutality and racial injustice while rocking the stage along with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and 50 Cent.
Millions of people around the world witnessed Eminem taking a knee and cussing US former President Donald Trump, copying former NFL player Colin Kaepernick's controversial kneel during playing the US national anthem.
Eminem taking a knee for Kaepernick? pic.twitter.com/T4p3vOHBUC
— The Recount (@therecount) February 14, 2022
Before the championship game that saw the Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnatti Bengals 23-20, the Puck website published an exclusive article reporting that NFL did not want Eminem to kneel during the show.
Eminem wanted to take a knee during halftime today. The NFL said no way. The backstage clash reveals a larger truth about how the league uses legal threats as image management. https://t.co/NsdVdpt4Fh
— Matthew Belloni (@MattBelloni) February 13, 2022
However, the league's representatives claimed they were "aware" of the rapper's "Collin Kaepernick style" kneel because they “watched it during rehearsals this week.”
They also denied having any differences with Eminem before his performance, noting that NFL players have been similarly taking knees since 2016.
In response, former San Francisco 49ers player Colin Kaepernick thanked the rapper for his stance, and tweeted, "I appreciate you @Eminem.”
It is noteworthy that Kaepernick took the first kneel in 2016 in protest of police brutality and racial injustice, and eventually ended his contract with his team the same year, but never joined another team since then.
He insisted that he is being blacklisted by NFL owners over his kneeling move and later sued the league, receiving an undisclosed settlement.
In the same context, the Puck report quoted a source as saying that Dr. Dre felt “disgustingly censored and faced several challenges while planning the performance set."
The website mentioned that NFL officials were uncomfortable with a lyric -- “still not loving police” -- from the artist's song "Still D.R.E.", claiming that they did not want the performance to become a “divisive culture war moment."
