Rapper Jay-Z appears to have publicly admitted that he rejected the NFL’s offer to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show. Except, he didn’t do it in a press conference, he did it in a song.
In Jay-Z and Beyonce’s new song “Apesh*t,” the Brooklyn-born rapper says: “I said no to the Super Bowl: you need me, I don’t need you. Every night we in the end zone, tell the NFL we in stadiums too.”
The lyric can be heard at the 3:31 mark of the video.
To further drive the point home, the video shows several men kneeling just as the rapper delivers the line.
Jay-Z has been an outspoken supporter of anthem protester Colin Kaepernick. The rapper once called Kaepernick “an iconic figure,” during an interview on CNN. He also dedicated a song to the former 49er quarterback at a concert in New York, and wore a Kaepernick jersey during an appearance on Saturday Night Live.
Reports surfaced in September, that the NFL had approached the Brooklyn-born rapper about performing at the halftime show, and that he had declined. However, Jay-Z did not confirm that he had rejected the offer at the time. Nor did the NFL say whether there was any truth to the story.
Now it appears we have our answer.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn