What we know about the Super Bowl halftime show demonstrator – CNN
The Super Bowl halftime performer who held up the Sudanese and Palestinian flags in protest during Sunday night’s performance in New Orleans will be banned for life from all NFL stadiums and events, a league spokesperson told CNN.
The protester was confirmed by the NFL to be part of Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show. The individual acted without coordinating with showrunners, the league said.
Here’s what we know.
The protest occurred late in Lamar’s set, soon after he launched into his performance of his song “tv off.”
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Footage and photos show the protester was clad in black – matching the dancers nearby – with what appears to be a combination of the Sudanese and Palestinian flags, reading “Sudan” and “Gaza,” respectively.
The protester was first seen standing atop a black car used as part of the stage. Video captured by CNN affiliate WDSU then shows the individual running onto the field with the flag before security personnel grab him.
The flags were briefly seen in the background during the Super Bowl broadcast.
The demonstrator was not named by officials, but New Orleans-based artist Zül-Qarnain Nantambu told CNN Tuesday he was the demonstrator who was detained and ejected from the stadium.
It appeared Nantambu would not face further consequences, as police indicated he was not arrested. “No arrest nor summons was issued,” the New Orleans Police Department said in a news release.
“The NOPD continues to work with NFL and the halftime production team to ascertain any affiliation the individual may have had with the halftime show,” the release added.
An NFL spokesperson commended security for “quickly detaining” Nantambu, saying in a statement late Sunday, “The individual hid the item on his possession and unveiled it late in the show. No one involved with the production was aware of the individual’s intent.”
The protest was not planned nor did it occur in any of the halftime show rehearsals, according to a separate statement by Roc Nation, the Jay-Z-owned company that serves as an entertainment adviser to the NFL.
CNN has sought comment from representatives for Lamar.
Nantambu told CNN that during the third or fourth rehearsal, he started thinking about the opportunity he had and decided to go ahead with the protest. He stressed he did not tell anyone what he was planning to do.
“As practices went on, the plan was formulated, but I definitely knew I wanted to make a sign, a sign of solidarity with the Muslims and to bring awareness to the struggles of the people that are oppressed,” he said
The demonstration was evidently about the ongoing conflicts ravaging Sudan and Gaza, where millions of people have been gripped by humanitarian crises.
Nantambu said he was motivated to wave the flags to highlight the human suffering happening in those regions.
“There’s mass suffering that’s going on in Palestine and in Sudan, where people are impoverished, oppressed, being attacked, being displaced, widows, orphans, people being killed, abused. I mean, it’s like crimes against humanity that’s taking place against these people,” Nantambu said. “I’m also Muslim, and I’m connected to them in their faith and their spirituality.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim advocacy group, called the demonstrator a hero.
“This brave act of peaceful protest should serve as a reminder that many Americans recognize the humanity of those suffering abroad as a result of American foreign policy,” a statement Monday from CAIR said.
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Along with his desire to show solidarity with the peoples of Sudan and Palestine, Nantambu said it was important for him to share his message with all the influential people attending the game, including President Donald Trump.
“All these people with so much affluence and so much following and God, put the flag before their eyes, put their struggle, their plight, right before their eyes,” Nantambu said. “Right in the face of Donald Trump, the same man that was just sitting with Netanyahu, talking about redoing Gaza without the Gazans,” he added.
While a ceasefire took effect last month, much of Gaza has been destroyed over the last 16 months as Israel bombarded the enclave in response to the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, and 1.9 million people – about 90% of Gaza’s population – have been displaced, according to the United Nations.
In Sudan, thousands have died and millions have been displaced amid a civil war between two generals competing for territory: Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The war, which began in April 2023, has since spiraled into one of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes. The US has previously determined both sides have committed war crimes, and last month, outgoing-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the RSF had committed genocide – the nation’s second in less than three decades.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Kyle Feldscher, Zoe Sottile and Wayne Sterling contributed to this report.
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Source: https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/10/us/gaza-sudan-flag-super-bowl-wwk/index.html
