Rihanna claims that four years after declaring that she had skipped the Super Bowl halftime show in protest of racial concerns, she will utilize her appearance at Sunday’s NFL championship game to stand up for immigrants and black women.
Sunday’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, which is often the most viewed telecast of the year on US television, will feature a performance by the nine-time Grammy Award-winning singer during the halftime break.
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After giving birth to a baby in May, the singer from Barbados has gone seven years without giving a public performance.
“The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world. As scary as that was because I haven’t been on stage in seven years, there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all,” She stated Thursday during a media event.
“It’s important for me to do this, this year. It’s important for representation. It’s important for my son to see this,” she remarked.
In 2019, she claimed that she had declined the NFL’s offer in support of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who had taken a knee in a show of defiance against racial injustice and police brutality.
After failing to find a club, Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL team owners, which he eventually withdrew after a settlement, alleging they had conspired to keep him out of the league.
There are aspects of the NFL “that I do not agree with at all,” Rihanna stated in a 2019 interview with Vogue, adding that she “couldn’t be a sellout, I couldn’t be an enabler.”
Instead of holding the customary pre-Super Bowl news conference, the singer spoke with an Apple Music presenter about how her music will pay homage to her Caribbean background.
“That’s a big part of why this is important for me to do this show: representation. Representing immigrants. Representing black women everywhere. That’s key for people to see the possibilities,” she added.
“It’s a long way from home, right? It’s a beautiful journey that I’m on. I could have never guessed that I would have made it here, so it’s a celebration of that. I’m really excited to have Barbados on the Super Bowl stage.”
Rihanna stated that her set list will be a “celebration” of her discography but she did not reveal who her anticipated guest performers on stage would be.
