Unbothered About My Business: Joyce Wrice Owns Her Music Masters — And You C... My name is Laurise McMillian, and I lead R29Unbothered’s social media team. Welcome to About My Business, our brand new career column. For years, I was g<doc-sep>A number of artists were offered the coveted slot to perform at the Pepsi Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show this year, but declined in support of former San Francisco 49ers Quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Among these artists (we now know) is Cardi B. Per a report from People, Cardi grappled with the decision to perform but ultimately sided with Kaepernick for the way he "stood up" for minorities. “My husband, he loves football. His kids play football. It’s really hard for him…He really wants to go to the Super Bowl, but he can’t go to the Super Bowl, because he’s got to stand for something,” Cardi told the Associated Press on Friday Evening. “You have to sacrifice that. I got to sacrifice a lot of money to perform. But there’s a man who sacrificed his job for us, so we got to stand behind him.” Michael Zagaris Getty Images Kaepernick started the #TakeAKnee movement during the 2016 NFL season when he kneeled during the National Anthem at the start of each game in order to bring attention to police brutality and racism in the U.S. Although he was joined by a widespread number of players throughout the season, Kaepernick eventually chose not to renew his contract with the 49ers and has yet to be signed by another NFL team. Kaepernick is currently suing the National Football League for conspiring internally to keep him from getting signed (due to his political activism on the field). Holly Rhue ELLE.com Contributor Holly Rhue is a writer and editor in New York City. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io<doc-sep>The rapper Cardi B won’t be playing the Super Bowl halftime show with Maroon 5 today. She turned down an offer to perform, she told the Associated Press, to stand by football quarterback Colin Kaepernick and support his advocacy against racial injustice. In a stance that has been praised by many and reviled by many others, Kaepernick’s protest involved “taking a knee” instead of standing during the national anthem played ahead of NFL games, and many others followed suit as his protest spread. Kaepernick has explained that he refused to ”show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” Kaepernick left his contract with the San Francisco 49ers in 2016, becoming a free agent, and has gone unsigned despite his solid performance as a quarterback, and is currently in a lawsuit against the NFL, accused of colluding so that he didn’t get signed. This is why Cardi B decided not to perform, she told the AP, despite having “mixed feelings” because of the substantial paycheck she had to turn down. “I got to sacrifice a lot of money to perform,” said the rapper. “But there’s a man who sacrificed his job for us, so we got to stand behind him.” Cardi B did perform at two pre-game events on Friday and Saturday, but she said she’s not going to watch the Super Bowl. “I think I got so many events, I’m not gonna have [time],” she told Page Six. Kaepernick has received the support of many prominent figures, including civil rights activist Angela Davis and basketball player LeBron James, who both recently wore shirts with the number 7, Kaepernick jersey number, and the hashtag #IMWITHKAP, part of a line that Nike produced in a campaign paying homage to the athlete’s protest. Cardi B may not have the stature of Davis when it comes to activism, but she has built some substantial political capital lately, using her famously no-nonsense approach to discuss important social issues. In a GQ profile, she casually mentioned her admiration for Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his creation of social security, and criticized Donald Trump’s suggestion that teachers should be armed to prevent mass shootings. And when she took the stage at the Global Citizen concert, she talked about global poverty and reminded the young crowd of the importance of voting. Most recently, in video posted on Instagram, the rapper discussed the government shutdown, the fact that federal workers had been summoned back to work without pay, and addressed criticism that Barack Obama, too, had shut down the government (“yeah bitch, for healthcare! So your grandma can check her blood pressure!”). The video became so popular that it was turned into a song, and the comedian Stephen Colbert started a joking petition to get Cardi B to give the rebuttal to Trump’s State of the Union speech.<doc-sep>
Ethan Miller/Getty Images Cardi B confirmed that she had declined an offer to perform at this year’s Super Bowl in support of Colin Kaepernick. The “Like That” rapper told the Associated Press that it was a hard decision to make because of the money on the table, as well as her husband Offset’s love for football. But ultimately, she had to choose to walk away. “My husband, he loves football. His kids play football. It’s really hard for him. … He really wants to go to the Super Bowl, but he can’t go to the Super Bowl, because he’s got to stand for something,” said Cardi B. “You have to sacrifice that,” she added. “I got to sacrifice a lot of money to perform. But there’s a man who sacrificed his job for us, so we got to stand behind him.” Many are still protesting the NFL following its treatment of the former San Francisco 49er, Kaepernick, who started kneeling during the national anthem before football games to protest against police brutality. Since he was released from the 49ers, Kaepernick remains unsigned despite being a healthy and productive quarterback. Multiple reports have surfaced of artists turning down the gig in support of Colin Kaepernick, including Rihanna and Cardi B., who is featured on a track with Maroon 5. Cardi’s comments came days before Travis Scott and Big Boi are set to take the stage alongside Maroon 5 for the halftime show on Sunday. Gladys Knight has also been scheduled to perform the National Anthem. Each artist has received severe backlash for their decision to perform. Kaepernick’s attorney Mark Geragos called Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine’s rationalization on his participation “a cop out” and that his decision to perform at the Superbowl was crossing an “intellectual picket line.” “If you’re going to cross this ideological or intellectual picket line, then own it, and Adam Levine certainly isn’t owning it,” Geragos said in an interview with Today . “It’s a cop-out when you start talking about, ‘I’m not a politician; I’m just doing the music.’ Most of the musicians who have any kind of consciousness whatsoever understand what’s going on here.”