NEW ORLEANS (TNND) — A backup performer in Sunday’s Super Bowl Halftime Show in New Orleans is “banned for life” from all NFL events after staging a protest, according to the league.
Viral video circulating social media shows an individual in black holding a flag reading “Sudan” and “Gaza” during the halftime show. The flag was colored red, black, green and white, the colors of the flags of both Palestine and Sudan.
Other clips show the individual also waving the banner atop a prop car on stage.
Several security officials tackled the demonstrator and carried them off the field, footage shows. The NFL issued a statement on the scene, saying the individual was one of the background performers for the show.
“We commend security for quickly detaining the individual who displayed the flag,” the NFL said. “He was a 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 league added. “The individual will banned for life from all NFL stadiums and events.”
Also speaking out was entertainment company ROC NATION, which helped present the halftime show.
“The act by the individual was neither planned nor part of the production and was never in any rehearsal,” the company said.
The demonstration came during a halftime performance by rapper Kendrick Lamar. Lamar, also known for his activism in the Black Lives Matter movement, performed his controversial diss track “Not Like Us” during the show, which accuses his musical rival Drake of being a “colonizer.”
It also comes in the wake of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the U.S. He was the first foreign visitor to the White House of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Trump during the visit proposed a takeover of Gaza, saying the U.S. could rebuild the war-torn region. That remark sparked outrage among pro-Palestine groups.
“We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out and create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,” Trump said during a press conference last week.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., told Jewish Insider such a move is worth discussion.
“It’s a provocative part of the conversation, but it’s part of the conversation, and that’s where we are,” Sen. Fetterman said. “The Palestinians have refused, or they’ve been unwilling to deliver a government that provided security and economic development for themselves.”
