Rihanna Calls Donald Trump “Mentally Ill” & Says She Turned Down Super Bowl Performance Because She Couldn’t Be A Sellout

Rihanna

Rihanna Calls Donald Trump “Mentally Ill” & Says She Turned Down Super Bowl Performance Because She Couldn’t Be A Sellout

It’s been almost three years since Rihanna blessed fans with an album. ANTI was released in January 2016 with hits like “Needed Me,” “Kiss It Better” and “Love On the Brain.”

And the Rihanna Navy has been pleading with the singer to give them more ever since.

But instead, she’s dropped her super successful Fenty beauty line and SAVAGE lingerie line, among other ventures. Plus, her love life has been going strong since she started dating billionaire Hassan Jameel. So when can we expect a new album? Rihanna said during a recent interview:

“I have been trying to get back into the studio. 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 confirmed that she would release a reggae album R9 more than a year ago. While time has passed since Rihanna announced her highly-anticipated project, she said it will still have the same theme.

“I like to look at it as a reggae-inspired or reggae-infused album. It’s not gonna be typical of what you know as reggae. But you’re going to feel the elements in all of the tracks.”

“Reggae always feels right to me. It’s in my blood. It doesn’t matter how far or long removed I am from that culture, or my environment that I grew up in; it never leaves. It’s always the same high. Even though I’ve explored other genres of music, it was time to go back to something that I haven’t really homed in on completely for a body of work.”

Rihanna

When asked about a release date, she said:

“They’re gonna kill you for that! And they’re going to kill me more! I’m talking the Navy—my scary fans. But they’ve earned it. They got me here.”

While she’s taken a pretty long break, Rihanna said she won’t be gone for good.

“Music is, like, speaking in code to the world, where they get it. It’s the weird language that connects me to them. Me the designer, me the woman who creates makeup and lingerie—it all started with music. It was my first pen pal–ship to the world. To cut that off is to cut my communication off. All of these other things flourish on top of that foundation.”

She also opened up about politics and said she turned down her chance to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show to stand with Colin Kaepernick, who was protesting the NFL against police brutality.

“I couldn’t dare [perform]. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. 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.”

Rihanna

She went on to explain her frustration on the White House, particularly President Donald Trump has handled mass shootings in the country.

Donald Trump

“It is devastating. People are being murdered by war weapons that they legally purchase. This is just not normal. That should never, ever be normal. And the fact that it’s classified as something different because of the color of their skin? It’s a slap in the face. It’s completely racist. Put an Arab man with that same weapon in that same Walmart and there is no way that Trump would sit there and address it publicly as a mental health problem. The most mentally ill human being in America right now seems to be the president.”

She also made it clear she’s turned off by how young immigrants have been getting treated.

“What do you say? What can you say? It’s gonna get better? I almost feel sick to my stomach. I don’t even believe this is happening in real life. In front of my eyes. In front of the world. It’s not even hidden. This is blatant.”

Do you agree with Rihanna not hitting the stage for the Super Bowl? Tell us in the comments!