Jay-Z Says He & Beyonce Weren’t Protesting National Anthem: We Wouldn’t Do That To Blue & Put Her In That Position 

Beyonce, Jay-Z

Jay-Z Says He & Beyonce Weren’t Protesting National Anthem: We Wouldn’t Do That To Blue & Put Her In That Position

Jay-Z is clearing the air after he and his wife Beyonce were spotted sitting down during the national anthem at the Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 2).

While it appeared the power couple was continuing former San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick’s protest against police brutality (Colin Kaepernick started kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 before he was allegedly blackballed from the NFL because of his protests), Jay-Z is explaining what really happened.

Jay-Z said during a candid discussion at Columbia University Tuesday (Feb. 4),

“It actually wasn’t (a political statement). Sorry. It really wasn’t. What happened was it was not premeditated at all. TMZ can tell you anything without speaking to me. If it was me, I’d say, ‘Yes, that’s what I’ve done.’ I think people know that about me.”

As for why they didn’t stand, Jay-Z, who was the co-producer for the halftime show, explained that he and Beyonce arrived at their seats right before gospel legend Yolanda Adams performed “America the Beautiful.”

“We got there, we were sitting and now the show is about to start. My wife is with me… So she says to me ‘I know this feeling right here.’ She’s super nervous because she’s performed at the Super Bowl before, I haven’t. I’m cool with it.”

The audience laughed before he explained,

“So we get there, and we immediately jump into artist mode. So now I’m looking, I’m like ‘Did I tell you Yolanda Adams was performing?’ And I got the choir from Miami, we want everyone to be involved in this… Now I’m really just looking at the show. Was her mic too low to start? We added a bunch of sound, cause the sound was done for TV. So I had to explain, as an artist, if you don’t feel the music you can’t reach that level…”

He went on to say that he was wondering if the sound was okay and thinking that the camera was cut from Yolanda Adams too many times.

“Then right after that, Demi [Lovato] comes out and we’re talking about how beautiful she looked and how she sounds and what she’s gone through in her life, for her to get on the stage, we were so proud of her. Then it finished, and my phone rang. And it was like ‘You know didn’t just…’ And I’m like ‘What?’ We didn’t stage that.”

jay talking about his and beyoncé reactions to demi singing the national anthem ? pic.twitter.com/6fk0UzRbAh

— ???? (@hopeIessddI) February 5, 2020

He also pointed out that their daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, was with them.

“Blue was right next to us. We wouldn’t do that to Blue and put her in that position. If anyone knows Blue, no one knows Blue, if we told her we were gonna do something like that, you would’ve seen her tapping me a hundred times. She’s the kid that gets in the car, closes the door and says ‘We there yet, Daddy’ So she would say ‘What time? Are we doing it? Are we doing it now? It’s 7:05 Daddy, are we doing it now?'”

“If you look at the video, you’ll see that it’s just a thing, and the seats were high, it just happened… I didn’t have to make a silent protest. If you look at the stage, the artists that we chose, Colombian [Shakira] and Puerto Rican J. Lo, we were making a louder stance… we had a commercial on injustice at the Super Bowl. We were making the loudest statement of all. Given the context, I didn’t have to make a silent protest.”

What are your thoughts on Jay-Z’s explanation? Tell us in the comments!