The NFL has denied reports this week that Eminem was asked not to take a knee during Sunday’s Super Bowl LVI halftime show.
After performing “Lose Yourself,” the rapper went down on one knee and put his head in one hand – an apparent homage to former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who held the position during the national anthem at games in 2016 to protest police brutality and racial inequality.
“We watched all elements of the show during multiple rehearsals this week and were aware that Eminem was going to do that,” said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told The Associated Press.
He told USA Today, in a statement: “A player or coach could have taken a knee and there would have been no repercussions, so there was no reason to tell an artist she or he could not do so.”
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Dr. Dre told TMZ that taking a knee was “Em’ doing that on his own, and there was no problem with that.” He admitted
Dre said the league censored lyrics about police brutality from Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” (“And we hate popo / Wanna kill us dead in the street fo’ sho”) but Dre was able to keep the line “still not loving police” in “Still D.R.E.”).
“There were a few things we had to change, but it was really minor things,” he explained.
The league officials also cut lyrics referencing L.A. gangs from Lamar’s “mAAd City” (“If Pirus and Crips all got along / They’d probably gun me down by the end of this song”).
“They had a problem with it, so we had to take that out,” said Dre. “No big deal, we get it.”