Couldn't Be A Sellout: Rihanna On Declining Super Bowl Gig

Pop star Rihanna has confirmed that she declined to perform at Super Bowl halftime in February to show solidarity with NFL player Colin Kaepernick. In an interview with Vogue, the 31-year-old singer shared that she was approached for a performance for halftime show at Super Bowl LIII but she could not agree to it because of the treatment NFL has meted out to Kaepernick, who has not played in the NFL since 2016 after he began kneeling for the pre-game national anthem as a protest of racial injustice and police brutality.

"I couldn't dare do that. 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 organisation 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 said.

Pop band Maroon 5 eventually performed at the halftime show. They were joined by rappers Big Boi and Travis Scott as guests.