Source: Bob Levey / Getty
Now that we know for sure that Maroon 5, Big Boi and Travis Scott really will be performing at the Super Bowl halftime show one thing is left to ask—will they be taking any moves for Black lives?
While Travis Scott only reportedly agreed to perform if NFL agreed to match a $500,000 donation to a social justice cause, this isn’t enough for some folks. A petition is rapidly growing for him and his fellow performers to take a knee in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick.
The petition, created by Vic Oyedeji, originally began as a petition on Change.org for Maroon 5 to back out of performing at the big event, getting over 85,000 signatures. Now that he realized that wasn’t going to happen, he’s asking for all three acts to take a knee in protest.
“Show the hundreds of millions of people watching that you stand in solidarity with Kaepernick and all the players who protest police brutality,” Oydedeji wrote on the petition. “Use this opportunity to force the NFL to change their policy.”
Many other acts before them had turned down the opportunity, further proving how controversial the decision was. Artists such as Rihanna and Adele turned down offers to appear this year. But Oyedeji wants to make sure audiences know that this petition is about the issue at hand, not the acts.
“I have nothing against the band, this isn’t about them and they just got caught in the crossfire,” Vic Oyedeji, founder of Unstrippedvoice and the petition’s creator told Billboard of Maroon 5. “I’m saying the only way for them to preserve their reputation is to take a knee during their set to show the hundreds of millions of people watching their solidarity with Colin Kaepernick and the players who are protesting police brutality.”
You can find the petition here.
