Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl protestor explains what happened after he was detained
During Kendrick Lamar‘s Super Bowl halftime show, one of the performers famously went off-script by pulling out a Sudanese and Palestinian flag and running around the pitch. 41-year-old Zül-Qarnaįn Nantambu made his pro-Gaza act during the performance of ‘Not Like Us’, but it wasn’t his intention from the beginning.
The New Orleans native initially signed up to be part of the show to go to the Super Bowl for free, but he soon realised how big of a platform it was to make a statement. As a Muslim himself, he took the opportunity to take a stand.
“I was inspired to use this opportunity to shed light on our Muslim brothers and sisters who are suffering, oppressed and going through hardships,” he told Dazed. “As Muslims, we’re one body, so if one part of the body hurts, we all hurt. I just felt like I had to do my part and trusted God would do the rest.”
He continued, “I just had to mentally get over the anxiety: this could happen or that could happen, what if nobody sees it, what if law enforcement does this or that… I had myriad thoughts that I just had to block out my mind and not put any energy into. Once I was out there running with the flag, I just felt like I was just in motion. It wasn’t an out-of-body experience, but I was in the moment.”
Following the incident, there was talk about the then-anonymous man being charged, with the New Orleans Police Department stating that “law enforcement is working to determine applicable charges in this incident.” In a statement, the NFL also said, “The individual will (be) banned for life from all NFL stadiums and events.”
However, Nantambu has spoken highly about how security and the NOPD treated him. The police released him because he didn’t break any laws by being on the field, which made it a smooth process.
“They were pleasant, they weren’t cursing, yelling or aggressive,” he said. “They were just doing their job. The NFL were saying they wanted to charge me with something. But shout out NOPD, they were great – they were honourable. I didn’t commit a crime, I had all the credentials to be on the field. So that was the interaction with the police: they clarified that I didn’t have any warrants against me and I was released.”