As the Super Bowl draws near, the criticism surrounding the NFL for its very public mistreatment of Colin Kaepernick continues to complicate the halftime show proceedings.
At first, we thought Maroon 5—a fucking seven-person band from Los Angeles—would be handling halftime duties alone. That was perplexing for a number of reasons, most notably the fact that this Super Bowl is going down in the musically rich city of Atlanta and Maroon 5 is notably not a part of the Georgia city's deep history of musical innovation. Though we later learned that both Travis Scott and Atlanta's own Big Boi would be joining the group, their announcement only further pissed off those understandably pissed at the NFL as it seemed like a slap in the face to the Kaepernick movement.
Common, never one to shy away from speaking truths on social issues and matters of politics, was bothered by TMZ Wednesday and asked to share his thoughts on an artist of La Flame's current stature making such a move. "Man, that Super Bowl, I ain't with supporting the NFL," he said. "When I say they don't support black people, Kaepernick said he was standing up for people who are being shot down, black and brown people, the NFL basically blackballed him. They've shown how they feel about us for real. I respect the NFL players but the owners, man, they ain't shown nothing."
Though Common was quick to show love for Scott overall, he had higher words of praise for Rihanna and anyone else who reportedly turned down the offer. "Look, I love Travis Scott," he said. "He's a dope dude but I really don't wanna support none of that stuff. More than anything, I respect people like Rihanna that said they didn't wanna do that and they ain't gonna support that. But Travis is doing what he gotta do, doing what he feels. I feel like, man, I wish he wouldn't, to be honest [but] it's his own choice though, man. I love him . . . but all I know is I'm supporting Kaepernick. I want you to know that."
In related news, a petition calling for Scott and the rest of the Super Bowl halftime performers to take a knee is now nearing 90,000 signatures.
