Rihanna is setting the record straight about being approached to headline the Super Bowl halftime show earlier this year.
The singer confirmed she turned down an offer from the NFL in a show of solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, who started a movement in 2016, by taking a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality.
“I couldn’t dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout,” she said in an interview with Vogue magazine published Wednesday. “I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”
The Fenty Beauty makeup mogul sat down for a wide-ranging interview with the magazine for the cover of its November issue.
The Barbadian pop star talked music and said her upcoming album will be “reggae-inspired.” She also discussed politics and President Trump.
When the subject of mass shootings in the U.S. came up, Rihanna said they should be considered acts of terrorism.
“It is devastating,” she responded after being asked about the recent shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
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She added that because the gunmen were white, the shootings were described as mental health problems instead of terrorism.
“The fact that it’s classified as something different because of the color of their skin? It’s a slap in the face. It’s completely racist,” she stated. “Put an Arab man with that same weapon in that same Walmart and there is no way that Trump would sit there and address it publicly as a mental health problem.”
She then questioned Trump’s mental health.
“The most mentally ill human being in America right now seems to be the president,” she said.
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