During the time when Colin Kaepernick and a handful of other NFL players were receiving backlash for taking a knee during America’s national anthem, several celebrities stepped forward to show their solidarity. Some would take a knee at other functions or games while music artists seemed to swear off performing at the Super Bowl, including Rihanna who was said to have snubbed the NFL because of their treatment of Kaepernick. In a new interview, pop sensation Pink shared that she, too, turned down an offer from the NFL for a variety of reasons, including taking a knee.
On Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Pink was asked if it was true that she turned down the opportunity to perform at the Halftime Show back in 2019—a performance that inevitably went to Maroon 5. “Yes, sort of,” she said. “I would have a lot of fun doing it and it would be great, but I feel like nobody could win at that anymore.”
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“Everyone, I don’t know, maybe I have a very particular outlook on it,” she continued. “But it seems like anybody that does the Halftime Show, people just pick them apart. And it’s no longer, ‘wow, that must have been really hard to do’ or ‘they put a lot of effort into that’ or ‘hey, good job, you showed up and tried hard.’ Even if it wasn’t my kinda thing.”
“Also, you know, I would probably take a knee and people would be upset.” Pink added that because that game was in Atlanta, she wanted the Halftime Show to be “all Atlanta rappers.” She wanted to celebrate all of those artists so she said, “You know what, let me just step back.” Travis Scott and Big Boi made special appearances during Maroon 5’s performance. Check out the clip of Pink below.