Zül-Qarnaįn Nantambu, the Super Bowl Halftime show performer who made national headlines after displaying a Palestinian-Sudanese flag during Kendrick Lamar’s set, explained that his actions were triggered by his desire to “highlight the human suffering.”
As previously reported by Face2Face Africa, videos of the incident circulated on social media showed the 41-year-old, who was part of a group of performers in all-black outfits, standing on a car and displaying the flag. The flag had the words “GAZA” and “SUDAN” written on it.
The current Gaza-Israel war began in October 2023, and the two parties recently agreed to a ceasefire. The civil war in Sudan, which is between the North African nation’s Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, started in April 2023.
RELATED STORIES
Nantambu, in an interview with NBC News on Monday, said he landed the Super Bowl LIX Halftime show gig after another individual sent him an application. Sunday’s event in New Orleans was attended by several celebrities and high-profile figures including U.S. President Donald Trump. It could, however, not be established if Nantambu’s actions caught Trump’s eye.
Nantambu’s protest during Lamar’s set also came after Trump proposed the resettlement of displaced Palestinians to pave way for a project that would transform Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” The Associated Press reported.
But Nantambu told NBC News that the resettlement of Palestinians is not the right action to take. He also said he feels there’s a good part of Trump, adding that the U.S. president “needs to act on that good.”
“I hope God shifts Trump’s heart to be empathetic and compassionate to those who are suffering in Palestine and do what is right by the Palestinians,” Nantambu said. “And if he can, help the Sudanese — which I’m sure he can.”
Nantambu explained that his Islamic faith and his love for the people negatively impacted by the Palestinian and Sudanese wars spurred him to protest.
“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 explained.
The Super Bowl Halftime show is produced by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation outfit. In the wake of the protest, a company representative stated that the “act by the individual was neither planned nor part of the production and was never in any rehearsal.”
But Nantambu explained that he decided to go ahead with his protest because of Lamar’s incorporation of symbols in his set. “He had the people formulate the American flag; he had two big black flags with his record label,” Nantambu said. “And he talked about ‘the revolution being televised,’ and he talked about consciousness.”
After standing on the car to display the flag, Nantambu was later subdued by security when he got down and started sprinting around the stage. He revealed that though he had psyched up his mind for a negative outcome should he display the flag, he similarly “hoped for the best.”
“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,” Nantambu stated.
The NFL said Nantambu will be given a lifetime ban “from all NFL stadiums and events.”
