• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Super Bowl dancer permanently banned from event after incident during Kendrick Lamar's performance

Home> News> Sport

Updated 14:37 12 Feb 2025 GMTPublished 17:29 11 Feb 2025 GMT

Super Bowl dancer permanently banned from event after incident during Kendrick Lamar's performance

NFL has issued a statement on the situation, praising the venue's security detail for 'detaining the individual'

Ella Scott

Ella Scott

Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Kevin Mazur

Topics: Super Bowl, Kendrick Lamar, Sport, NFL, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles

Ella Scott
Ella Scott

Advert

Advert

Advert

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.

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.

Advert

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.

The NFL has confirmed the protestor has been banned from future live events (Chandan Khanna / AFP)
The NFL has confirmed the protestor has been banned from future live events (Chandan Khanna / AFP)

Advert

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.

"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.

Advert

"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."

The incident took place during Kendrick Lamar's 13-minute Super Bowl set (Getty Images/Kevin Mazur)
The incident took place during Kendrick Lamar's 13-minute Super Bowl set (Getty Images/Kevin Mazur)

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’.

Nantambu has claimed his protest was inspired by his Islamic faith and his love for the Palestinian and Sudanese people who are suffering.

Advert

“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."

Choose your content:

8 hours ago
10 hours ago
  • 8 hours ago

    'Ozempic economy' explained as research suggests drug could save US taxpayers $173,000,000,000 a year

    The diabetes drug could help to reform the US economy

    News
  • 10 hours ago

    Legendary actor Michael Madsen has died aged 67

    Madsen was best known for his roles in Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill

    Film & TV
  • 10 hours ago

    Kanye West has been banned from entering Australia over one of his songs

    Kanye West will not be touring in Australia anytime soon

    Celebrity
  • 10 hours ago

    Donald Trump makes shocking threat to deport New York mayor candidate Zohran Mamdani

    Zohran Mamdani has responded to the POTUS' threats against him

    News
  • How to bag a Disney and Hulu subscription for just $10.99 - but you need to move fast
  • Why Kendrick Lamar wasn't paid for his huge Super Bowl halftime show
  • Donald Trump savagely trolls Taylor Swift after she was booed at Super Bowl
  • Fans think Kendrick Lamar took aim at Trump with subtle lyric change during Super Bowl performance