Super Bowl halftime show: Rihanna highlights cultural significance of mega event

The Super Bowl is nearly here, and Rihanna is ready to shake up the event. The superstar singer is slated to headline the halftime show in and was effusive about what it means for her to be a part of it.

She said that it is an opportunity for her to be a representative of all the groups she identifies with in America. She is an immigrant, a Black woman and representative of the Caribbean in the United States and is proud to be able to share her journey on the Super Bowl stage.

"That’s a big part of why this is important for me to do the show: representation," Rihanna said. "Representing for immigrants; representing for my country, Barbados; representing for Black women everywhere. ... That’s really important ... to see the possibilities. ... I’m honored to be here ... doing this.

"A long way from home, a beautiful journey that I’m on," Rihanna said. "And I could’ve never guessed that I would’ve made it here. So, it’s a celebration of that. ... I’m really excited to have Barbados on the Super Bowl stage."

A significant departure from Rihanna's previous stance during the Super Bowl

Four years ago, the NFL reached out to Rihanna to gauge her interest in being a part of the halftime show. However, she demurred at the time, saying she stood in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback had been allegedly blackballed by the league for kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality. She said at the time:

"I couldn’t dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. 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.”

While Kaepernick has still not found a way back, a lot has changed since then as the NFL has embraced social justice causes, especially since the brutal murder of George Floyd.

That progress has enabled Rihanna to change her tune as well and now she gets to flaunt her culture and her roots on one of the grandest sporting stages of them all.