Performer in Super Bowl detained for unveiling flag during halftime

NEW ORLEANS — The cast member who displayed the Palestinian flag with the word “GAZA” in protest during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show will not face charges, New Orleans police said Monday.

Immediately after the demonstration, during one of the most-watched events on television, the New Orleans Police Department said in a statement that “law enforcement is working to determine applicable charges in this incident.”

But by Monday, the NOPD appeared to walk back the threat of prosecution, saying no charges would be filed in the case. 

The banner combined the black stripes of the flags honored by the Sudanese and Palestinian peoples and also had the word SUDAN on it. The cast member, one of dozens of dancers clad in identical black sweats, held it high while standing on the roof of the car that was a centerpiece of the hip-hop artist’s performance, and then jumped off the stage and ran across the field before being tackled by several men in suits.

The performer was detained on the field after unfurling a combination Sudanese-Palestinian flag with “Sudan” and “Gaza” written on it.

The NFL confirmed the person was part of the 400-member field cast. 

The cast member had hidden the flag and “no one involved with the production was aware of the individual’s intent,” the NFL said Sunday, adding that the person has earned a lifetime ban from league stadiums and events.

“The individual will (be) banned for life from all NFL stadiums and events,” NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said in an emailed statement.

The performer stood on a car used as a prop for Lamar’s performance and held up the flag. The NFL said “the individual hid the item on his person and unveiled it late in the show” and that “no one involved with the production was aware of the individual’s intent.”

Roc Nation, the entertainment company which produced the show, said that the act “was neither planned nor part of the production and was never in any rehearsal.”

The show continued without interruption, and it did not seem as though the person was shown on the broadcast of Lamar’s performance.

So, what was this protest about, what’s happening in the Gaza Strip and Sudan — and how does it affect the wider world?

The Gaza Strip is an enclave along the Mediterranean Sea bordered by both Egypt and Israel. It covers some 360 square kilometers (140 square miles) — about the twice the size of Washington and 3½ times the size of Paris. But it’s incredibly densely populated and was home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the start of the 2023 Israel-Hamas war.

The war began when Hamas, a militant group that’s ruled Gaza since 2007, stormed across the border into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage. Israel responded with a devastating ground and air campaign across Gaza, killing more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not differentiate between fighters and noncombatants in their count. Much of the territory has been left in ruins, and it’s unclear how it could be rebuilt.

A ceasefire in the war began on Jan. 19 and is still holding. Palestinian militants have freed hostages while Israel has released Palestinians held in prisons there. However, worries remains over whether the peace will hold. Comments by President Donald Trump, who was on hand Sunday night for the Super Bowl, suggesting the U.S. was “committed to buying and owning Gaza,” also have upended discussions about the enclave’s future.

The Palestinians want the Gaza Strip and the West Bank for a future state of their own, with east Jerusalem as its capital. That long-sought, two-state solution for the decadeslong conflict is backed by Mideast nations and much of the international community. Israel has expressed openness to the idea of resettling Gaza’s population, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday calling it ”a revolutionary, creative vision.” Hamas, the Palestinians and much of the world have rejected it.

Sudan, a nation in northeastern Africa, has been unstable since a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocratic President Omar al-Bashir in 2019. A short-lived transition to democracy was derailed when army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led a military coup in 2021.

The RSF and Sudan’s military began fighting each other in 2023. Their conflict has killed more than 28,000 people, forced millions to flee their homes and left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country. Other estimates suggest a far higher death toll in the civil war.

In recent weeks, Burhan’s forces, including Sudan’s military and allied militias, have advanced against the RSF. They retook a key refinery north of Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. They’ve also pushed in on RSF positions around Khartoum itself. The fighting has led to an increase in civilian casualties. From Jan. 31 until Feb. 5, the U.N.s’ Human Rights Office documented at least 275 civilian deaths from artillery, airstrikes and drone assaults.

“Indiscriminate attacks, as well as threats and attacks directed against civilians must cease immediately,” said Seif Magango, a spokesperson for the Human Rights Office. “The Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces — and their allied movements and militias — must respect their international law obligations and take concrete steps to protect civilians from harm, including humanitarian workers and human rights defenders.”

Online, activists have sought to draw attention to both Gaza and Sudan, though the conflicts have different roots and participants. The idea of the two conflicts being linked by their devastation has been made by celebrities.

In August, American rapper Macklemore said he canceled a concert in Dubai over the United Arab Emirates’ role “in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis” in Sudan through its reported support of the paramilitary RSF. While the UAE repeatedly has denied arming the RSF, U.N. experts reported “credible” evidence last year showed that the Emirates sent weapons to the RSF several times a week from northern Chad.

Macklemore at the time said he reconsidered the show in part over his recent, public support of Palestinians over the Israel-Hamas war. He has been performing a song called “Hind’s Hall,” in honor of a young girl named Hind Rajab who was killed in Gaza in a shooting that Palestinians have blamed on Israeli forces opening fire on a civilian car.