Jay-Z Helped the NFL Banish Colin Kaepernick

[douglas9]

Yesterday the hip-hop mogul Jay-Z and National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell held a joint media session at the Roc Nation offices in New York to seal a once-implausible partnership that isn’t being received as positively as both parties probably hoped.

I assume neither Goodell nor Jay-Z expected to be on the defensive once the NFL announced that it would give Roc Nation, the music mogul’s entertainment company, significant power in choosing the performers for the league’s signature events—including the coveted Super Bowl halftime show. Jay-Z and Roc Nation will also help augment the NFL’s social-justice initiatives by developing content and spaces where players can speak about the issues that concern them.

This wasn’t just another routine example of Jay-Z living out a lyric he’d rapped nearly 15 years ago—“I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man!” Instead, the rapper faced questions yesterday about why he chose to collaborate with the same league that he’d publicly criticized for its treatment of Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback who hasn’t had an NFL job since taking a knee during the national anthem three years ago to protest police brutality and racial injustice. This is the same Jay-Z who showed support for Kaepernick by wearing his jersey on Saturday Night Live. On his megahit song “Apeshit,” Jay-Z rapped this lyric: “Once I said no to the Super Bowl. You need me, I don’t need you. Every night we in the end zone. Tell the NFL we in stadiums too.”

Now he’s in business with the league.


https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/jay-z-helps-nfl-banish-colin-kaepernick/596146/

[hlthe2b]

1. I've always thought Jay-Z recieved considerable "pass" because of Beyonce fans...

I have to wonder how many will remain loyal and unquestioning after this.

Sell-out just about covers it, IMO. I am firmly in Kaepernick's corner.

[walkingman]

2. The endless greed these days is sad. How much is enough to betray your principles?

[Wounded Bear]

3. If the NFL goes all urban rap on us, I may reconsider my fandom...

[Eugene]

4. Paul Newberry: He may have 99 Problems -- but a conscience certainly ain't one.

Column: Jay-Z sells out Kaepernick, grabs big money from NFL (Associated Press)

With a totally straight face — and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell by his side — the rap icon and entrepreneur said his partnership with the league is actually a progressive step to carry on the campaign that banished quarterback Colin Kaepernick courageously began by kneeling during the national anthem to bring attention to police brutality and glaring racial inequities in the U.S. justice system.

“I think everyone knows what the issue is — we’re done with that,” Jay-Z said. “We all know the issue now. OK, next.”

https://apnews.com/fe539d1c5d9045d98cfdcf7f028baff9

[oasis]

5. I think these issues will reach resolution by this season's end. nt

[Blue_true]

6. I don't agree.

I think that what Jay-Z is doing will have a far greater and longer lasting impact of social justice for Blacks and other people of color.

I have been of the mindset for a long time that other than focusing on the right issue, Kapernack seemed to have had no clue about how to move to the next level. Jay-Z has been actively mentoring young Black entertainers, businesspeople and aspiring professionals for years. Silicon Valley now takes Black startups seriously because of what Jay-Z did in that area, VC firms now know that is they pass on that Black person that has an interesting idea, Jay-Z or those working with him will give the Black entrepreneur a fair hearing and likely investment. I just don't see Kap extending his influence into tangible change the way Jay-Z has.