A movement originated by American football player Colin Kaepernick, taking a knee is a powerful protest against racial inequality and police brutality. At the time of his kneel, Kaepernick was a quarterback on the San Francisco 49ers. He became the first athlete to kneel during the National Anthem and faced many consequences for doing so. In 2016 (the same year) he was fired off of the team and shut out of the NFL. 

Allegedly a tribute to Kaepernick’s efforts, Eminem took a knee and placed his head in his hand during his time on stage at the Superbowl XLVI Halftime show. Doing so at the end of his rendition to the Oscar and Grammy-winning track “Lose Yourself”, many didn’t notice the significance of it all. 

Eminem is a known activist for Black Lives Matter and has very publicly stood his ground. Eminem has a long history of disses to ex-president Donald Trump. His most popular diss was in the artist’s popular freestyle, “The Storm”, for BET Hip-Hop Awards. Right off of the bat, he opened his rap with the lines, “That’s an awfully hot coffee pot/ Should I drop it on Donald Trump? Probably not/ But that’s all I got ’til I come up with a solid plot”. Multiple digs at the former president reportedly earned him a visit by the Secret Service in January of 2018. 

After the series of police violence against people of color in 2017 (including the shooting of Walter Scott), Eminem released an entire song on the subject. “Untouchable” was released as a part of his Revival album. The track is all about police brutality against men of color and how African-Americans are treated in a White America. 

In a more recent instance of many, he rapped a verse on the single “The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady” (featuring Kid Cudi) dedicated to George Floyd. The near ending of the song strikes with Floyd’s impactful phrase: “I can’t breathe”. 

At the time of Eminem’s kneeling, many ran to social media to either criticize or encourage him. A common word used to criticize his performance was “disrespectful”. Many believe that a kneel represents those who are anti-police, but in reality, it is a protest against police brutality.

Eminem kneeled and left us all at just that. The viewers received no explanation for his actions and immediately began to assume his motives. Rumors began to swirl regarding the idea that the NFL told Eminem not to kneel, along with placing restrictions on the other artists who would be performing that night. 

According to a report from Puck, a source close to Dr. Dre claims he felt “disgustingly censored”. Allegedly, the NFL wasn’t in accordance with a line in Dr. Dre’s track “Still D.R.E” where he sings “still not loving police”, Eminem’s kneel, or Snoop Dog’s outfit that seemed to be “gang-related”. 

All of the restrictions didn’t stop the artists once on stage. At the NFL pre-show conference, even Snoop made a public acknowledgment that “This is what hip-hop and the NFL is supposed to be about: about representing, about change, about moving forward”. Most of the artists went against the NFL’s (alleged) wishes and proceeded to carry out an impressive performance. Many praised them for doing so.

However, the NFL has put out a statement denying the allegation that Eminem was asked not to kneel. The NFL claimed that they were “aware” he planned on doing so. In an interview with TMZ, Dr. Dre was asked if the NFL had any say throughout the performance, to which he responded with “There were a few things we had to change, but it was really minor things. Em’ taking a knee, that was Em’ doing that on his own. There was no problem with that.”

In 2019, Black Lives Matter became an incredibly controversial topic that divided the nation. Now in 2022, it is incredible that we continue to see the movement grow and become a topic of conversation once again. The NFL tried to silence Kaepernick, but they couldn’t do the same to their halftime performers. When it came to making a change, these artists were able to see the bigger picture.