On Sunday (Sept. 25), Rihanna announced that she would be the Super Bowl 2023 LVII Show performer. However, many on Twitter began to come for the singer and beauty mogul for backtracking on her previous Super Bowl comments.
In 2019, the “We Found Love” singer reportedly turned down the Super Bowl to show solidarity with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick who began kneeling during the National Anthem in 2016 to protest injustice, police brutality and systemic oppression. Later in 2019, Rihanna spoke to Vogue about refusing to perform. “I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I don’t agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of any service to them [the NFL] in any way.”
One person wrote, “You literally said you wouldn’t do it 2 years ago…….. did injustice change in 2 years? Hypocrite.”
“I’m sure Rihanna, Jay-Z, whoever else black does/will do the SB is aware y’all are going to call them a hypocrite,” another fan wrote defending RiRi. “They don’t care. No one is standing behind Kaepernick and his weird half-a– boycott anymore. Him actively trying to return to that league canceled all that out.”
Another fan pointed out her previous 2019 comment: “And this statement of Rihanna was made in 2019. It wasn’t that long ago…. and Jay-Z was already working with the NFL when she shaded the f— out of a lot people with her statement…. it’s fine to like Rihanna and still say she look like a hypocrite…”
In Rihanna’s announcement on Sunday, the singer took to all of her social media accounts and posted her hand holding an NFL-branded football against a white backdrop. The superstar captioned the photo with a simple period, “.”
Although Rihanna got some haters for taking the Super Bowl gig, a lot of fans are still excited to watch her perform. Since the popstar has not produced an album in over six years, fans were quick to make memes once learning that she would be the Super Bowl Halftime performer. Take a look at fan reactions below:
