A man has been arrested for disrupting Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show with a protest flag supporting Gaza and Sudan.
A man has been arrested almost five months after waving a Palestinian flag with “Gaza” and “Sudan” scrawled across it during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show performance.
Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu, a 41-year-old resident of New Orleans, was hired as a background performer for Kendrick Lamar.
He disrupted the February 9 show at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans by climbing atop a black Buick GNX and revealing the flag mid-performance.
He refused to follow the security’s commands and was quickly detained. The incident triggered an investigation by Troop NOLA Troopers, who identified Nantambu through internal review and surveillance footage.
An arrest warrant was issued by the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court.
On Thursday (June 26), Nantambu turned himself in through his attorney and was booked into the Orleans Parish Justice Center.
“The preliminary investigation revealed that during the halftime performance, a performer deviated from his assigned role, retrieved a Sudanese flag bearing the message ‘Sudan and Free Gaza’ and disrupted the halftime show by running across the field with the flag. Security and law enforcement personnel on site quickly recognized the unauthorized action and apprehended the performer after he refused to comply with their commands to stop,” police said in a statement.
He faces charges of resisting an officer and disturbing the peace by interruption of a lawful assembly.
The NFL permanently banned Nantambu from all league events. The protest took place during one of the most-watched Super Bowl halftime performances in recent history.
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