Rihanna has confirmed reports that she turned down an offer to headline this year’s Super Bowl halftime show in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick.
“Absolutely,” she told Vogue. “I couldn’t dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout.”
Kaepernick, of course, is the player who sparked controversy for his decision to kneel during the U.S. national anthem to protest police brutality and social injustice.
The Super Bowl gig went to Maroon 5, who performed with Travis Scott and Big Boi. Next year’s Super Bowl halftime show will feature Jennifer Lopez and Shakira.
"I couldn’t be an enabler,” Rihanna said. “There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”
In the Vogue interview, Rihanna addressed calls from fans to release new music (her last album was 2016’s Anti).
“I have been trying to get back into the studio,” the singer explained. “It’s not like I can lock myself in for an extended amount of time, like I had the luxury of doing before. I know I have some very unhappy fans who don’t understand the inside bits of how it works.”
Rihanna said the new album will be “reggae-inspired or reggae-infused” and the one after that will be “the evolution of where I’m going next with music.”
The also superstar shared that she has a forthcoming collaboration with Lil Nas X, although she wouldn’t give any details. It “may not even be with music,” she teased.