Rihanna Opens Up About Refusing The 2019 Super Bowl Halftime Show

Earlier this year, rumors swirled about whether or not it was going to be Rihanna who performed at the Super Bowl LIII halftime show in February. In the end, it was Maroon 5 and Travis Scott who took the stage. Now, Rihanna has finally opened up about why she turned down the gig.

Us Weekly originally reported that the 31-year-old singer refused the offer due to the Colin Kaepernick kneeling controversy of 2016. Kaepernick hasn't played in the NFL since the 2016 season when he began kneeling during the national anthem as a means of protesting racial inequality and police brutality.

When asked by Vogue if this was the reason she turned down the opportunity, she said "absolutely."

"I couldn't dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people," Rihanna told Vogue. "I just couldn’t be a sellout. 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."

We applaud Rihanna for standing up what she, and so many others, believe in.