After ABC spent two days touting celebrities boycotting the Super Bowl, NBC Nightly News used their Monday evening broadcast to do the same. “It's long been one of the highly coveted gigs in the music industry, but tonight some of the world’s most popular artists appear to be saying no thanks to the Super Bowl halftime show,” announced anchor Lester Holt.
“The event, just weeks away and still no big act officially announced,” he added before handing the report off to correspondent Miguel Almaguer who touted former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s influence.
As he began his report, Almaguer noted that, “For some, the show is bigger than the game. Music royalty headlining the Super Bowl, attracting more than 100 million people. But now, the NFL hitting a sour note with big stars.”
“The backlash comes on the heels of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee. The former 49er who protested racial injustice has not been signed by another team,” he continued. “His movement going mainstream, artists like Jay-Z snubbing the NFL.” During Monday’s Good Morning America, ABC’s T.J. Holmes went further by touting lyrics from a Jay-Z song: “He had a song lyric in which he said, ‘You need me. I don't need you. Tell the NFL we in stadiums too.’”
Almaguer spoke to Variety magazine’s senior music editor Jem Aswad, who documented the latest boycott last Friday, and he gawked at how the move was going over:
JEM ASWAD: A lot of artists have been approached. Rihanna, Mary J. Blige, Cardi B, Lauryn Hill, and several others and no one has said yes.
(…)
ASWAD: As much good as it might do for an artist’s career, it could do just as much bad for the audience that they already have.
“With Maroon 5 rumored to be this year's headliner, the NFL only promising ‘another epic show.’ The stage now set on what happens off the field before the NFL's big night,” Almaguer concluded.
While ABC and NBC spent time celebrating pampered celebrities boycotting for Kaepernick, they turned a blind eye earlier this year when the NFL quashed a Super Bowl ad from veterans group AMVETS, who wanted ask people to “Please Stand” for the national anthem.
“The NFL, bottom line, just denied us our opportunity for free speech,” AMVETS national commander Marion Polk told Fox News at the time. “We didn't place this ad, please stand, for any political reason whatsoever. It was our way of just getting the American public to stand in their beliefs.”
It’s a demonstration of network news’s priorities.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
December 17, 2018
7:22:31 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: It's long been one of the highly coveted gigs in the music industry, but tonight some of the world’s most popular artists appear to be saying no thanks to the Super Bowl Halftime Show. The event just weeks away and still no big act officially announced. NBC’s Miguel Almaguer has details on what's reportedly behind the holdup.
[Cuts to video]
MIGUEL ALMAGUER: For some, the show is bigger than the game. Music royalty headlining the Super Bowl, attracting more than 100 million people. But now, the NFL hitting a sour note with big stars.
JEM ASWAD (Variety senior music editor): A lot of artists have been approached. Rihanna, Mary J. Blige, Cardi B, Lauryn Hill, and several others and no one has said yes.
ALMAGUER: The backlash comes on the heels of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee. The former 49er who protested racial injustice has not been signed by another team.
COLIN KAEPERNICK: Believe in something.
ALMAGUER: His movement going mainstream, artists like Jay-Z snubbing the NFL.
ASWAD: As much good as it might do for an artist’s career, it could do just as much bad for the audience that they already have.
ALMAGUER: With Maroon 5 rumored to be this year's headliner, the NFL only promising “another epic show”. The stage now set on what happens off the field before the NFL's big night. Miguel Almaguer, NBC News, New York.
