Eminem Kneels During Super Bowl Halftime Show Despite Rumors NFL Wouldn’t Allow It
Eminem took a knee during the Super Bowl halftime show.
Earlier tonight (Feb. 13), Slim Shady kneeled during his performance at the Pepsi Halftime Show at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. This came following rumors that the NFL turned down his request to make the gesture during his performance.
The moment came during Eminem's performance of "Lose Yourself." He ended the song and collapsed down to one knee as Anderson .Paak was playing the drums to his right and guitar players and a piano player surrounded him. The crowd roared at Em's action.
Eminem remained on one knee as Dr. Dre then hit the keys to play Tupac Shakur's "I Ain't Mad at Cha."
In 2016, former San Francisco 49ers player Colin Kaepernick began kneeling as a sign of protest to bring attention to the oppression that the Black community faced, racial inequality and Black men and women dying at the hands of police. After facing backlash from both outside and inside the organization, the NFL enacted a national anthem policy in 2018 that required players and league personnel on the sideline to stand for the anthem, but they could remain in the locker room if they didn't want to stand.
Throughout the halftime show, other staples from "Dre Day" included Snoop Dogg performing "The Next Episode," Dre doing "California Love," 50 Cent bringing back "In Da Club," Mary J. Blige singing "Family Affair" and "No More Drama," Kendrick Lamar doing rousing renditions of "m.A.A.d City" and "Alright" and Dre and Snoop uniting for "Still D.R.E."
Watch the Super Bowl halftime show below. Em kneels at the 11:23-mark.