A Super Bowl protestor who unfurled a Sudanese-Palestinian flag during Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show performance has been hit with a lifetime NFL event ban, it has been confirmed.
Super Bowl LIX was an evening to cherish for the Philadelphia Eagles, who exacted revenge on back-to-back NFL champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
After losing 35-38 to Andy Reid’s side back in February 2023, the Birds romped to victory on Sunday (February 9) with a defiant 40-22 display.
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the squad were denied the historic three-peat, which seemed to be written in the script.
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Halftime entertainment came in the form of Kendrick Lamar’s 13-minute showcase, featuring 11 songs, a live collaboration with SZA, and cameos from tennis icon Serena Williams, Samuel L. Jackson and DJ Mustard.
37-year-old Lamar also used his 11-track set to rehash his ongoing beef with Universal Music Group (UMG) labelmate Drake, with whom he brazenly name-dropped during the performance.
When the rapper launched into a live rendition of ‘Not Like Us’, a man posing as one of his dancers attempted to interrupt the performance by waving a Sudanese-Palestinian flag.
The banner was adorned with handwritten ‘Gaza’ and ‘Sudan’ sentiments— referencing ongoing conflict that the two Middle Eastern countries are enduring.
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The man unfurled the pro-Palestine motif on top of a prop car before running around the field.
Eventually, security toppled him to the ground and escorted him from the 83,000 capacity stadium in Louisiana.
In the wake of the protest, officials from the National Football League (NFL) have confirmed the person, named by NBC News as Zul-Qarnain Nantambu, has been slapped with a lifetime ban and will no longer be allowed to attend events.
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"We commend security for quickly detaining the individual who displayed the flag," the NFL said to UPI, as per Yahoo. "He was part of the 400-member field cast. The individual hid the item on his person and unveiled it late in the show.
"No one involved with the production was aware of the individual's intent. The individual will be banned for life from all NFL stadiums and events."
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Roc Nation, the entertainment company producing the halftime show, claimed the protestor’s actions were ‘neither planned nor part of the production and was never in any rehearsal’.
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Nantambu has claimed his protest was inspired by his Islamic faith and his love for the Palestinian and Sudanese people who are suffering.
“And I know it would invigorate their faith, seeing somebody supporting them and thinking about them on such a grand stage to bring awareness to that, to their struggles,” he told NBC.
"Maybe we don't have the military prowess to stop the war, but we can at least do what we can to help those who are afflicted by these different atrocities in these countries."
Topics: Super Bowl, Kendrick Lamar, Sport, NFL, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles
Ella Scott