Super Bowl Dancer Arrested Over Sudanese Flag Incident
Kendrick Lamar Background Dancer Arrested Over Sudanese Flag Incident During Super Bowl Halftime Show
It has been nearly five months since Kendrick Lamar delivered the most-viewed (and arguably the most polarizing) Super Bowl halftime show performance in NFL history — and, somehow, the performance is still making headlines.
Unfortunately, this time, the Super Bowl LIX halftime show is back in the news because one of the “Not Like Us” artist’s background dancers, 41-year-old Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu, has been placed under arrest for holding up a Sudanese flag with the message “Sudan and Free Gaza,” and running across the NFL field with it before being tackled by men in suits.
According to the Associated Press, Nantambu, a resident of New Orleans, surrendered himself to authorities shortly after an arrest warrant was obtained and was booked into the Orleans Parish Justice Center on misdemeanor charges of resisting an officer and disturbing the peace by interruption of a lawful assembly. (Look, I might give you the “resisting and officer” charge, but the only people disturbed by any part of Kendrick’s show were the white people complaining that it was too “woke” and didn’t have any Caucasian dancers on stage. Nantambu’s shenanigans were just icing on that white fragility cake.)
No doubt, law enforcement will deny that Nantambu is only being arrested now because of his political views, but it is interesting that shortly after the event took place in February, New Orleans police, the department that first responded to the “disturbance,” announced that Nantambu would not face charges. Apparently, the Louisiana State Police felt differently.
From AP:
State police say troopers began investigating shortly after the Feb. 9 game at the Caesars Superdome and found that Nantambu “deviated from his assigned role” and disrupted the halftime show by running across the field with the flag. Security and law enforcement personnel ran after him, and he refused to comply with their commands to stop, state police said in a statement Thursday.
“In coordination with the National Football League, troopers learned that Nantambu had permission to be on the field during the performance, but did not have permission to demonstrate as he did,” state police said.
New Orleans police initially responded to the disturbance, but Louisiana State Police then took over the investigation, partly due to the performer’s access to a highly secured area, Louisiana State Police Sgt. Katharine Stegall said in an email to The Associated Press.
And the NFL has, apparently, reverted back to its anti-Colin Kaepernick ways by siding with the anti-protest opps, publicly commending the Louisiana State Police for “its diligence and professionalism.”
“We take any attempt to disrupt any part of an NFL game, including the halftime show, very seriously and are pleased this individual will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” the NFL said. “In addition to the ongoing criminal case, the NFL banned the individual from attending any NFL games or events.”
Anyway, another interesting twist in this story is that Nantambu happens to be listed as the victim of a May 17 shooting outside a celebrity boxing event in Miami, for which former NFL star Antonio Brown is facing a charge of attempted murder.
Regardless of how either case shakes out, it appears that Nantambu will have some wild NFL-related stories to tell for years to come.
Just — wow!
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