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Super Bowl Protester Breaks Silence About Disrupting Kendrick Lamar’s Halftime Show With ‘Sudan, Gaza’ Flag
A protester holding a flag with the words “Gaza” and “Sudan” as rapper Kendrick Lamar performed during the Super Bowl halftime show at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Feb. 9, 2025. Photo: Screenshot
The dancer who unfurled a combined Sudanese and Palestinian flag during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show performance on Sunday night said he felt obligated to draw attention to the “suffering” of those in the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip and the civil war in Sudan.
“I felt like I didn’t have a choice,” Muslim protester Zül-Qarnain Nantambu, 41, told Al Jazeera. “When I saw what my position was, it was a great stage … I had an opportunity on a grand scale to bring awareness or to speak out against wrong of our Muslim brothers and sisters. I didn’t want to face my creator with a sign of weak faith when I knew I had an opportunity to show I didn’t have weak faith.”
“They are oppressed, and suffering, and treated with injustice, and it’s on a wide scale,” he added. “I wanted to show the solidarity for those afflicted by this, that they’re being remembered here in America … I thought that I could contribute to taking it to the next level with this activism and protest and enlightenment to make other people aware of what’s going on in other parts of the world.”
Nantambu was asked if he is worried about the repercussions of his actions and how it might affect his ability to find work in the future. The dancer, who dubs himself a “freedom fighter,” replied, “I trust in God. I fear God more than I fear man or the loss of wealth. I fear losing the pleasure of Allah.”
The Muslim dancer was part of a 400-member dance team that performed alongside Lamar at Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. The show included cameos by Samuel L. Jackson, SZA, Serena Williams, and DJ Mustard.
Toward the end of Lamar’s performance, Nantambu climbed on top of a car used as a prop in the performance and raised a combined Sudanese-Palestinian flag. On the white sections of the flag, he had written “Sudan” with a heart drawn next to it and “Gaza” alongside an image of a solidarity fist. While still displaying the flag, Nantambu jumped off the car and continued to wave it while standing on the ground near other dancers, before security personnel tackled and escorted him out of the stadium. The New Orleans Police Department said no arrest or summons were issued, but the National Football League issued Nantambu a lifetime ban to all NFL stadiums and events.
The NFL added the Nantambu concealed the combined Sudanese-Palestinian flag and unveiled it during Lamar’s performance without prior knowledge by the show’s production team.
Nantambu told CNN he spent two weeks, eight hours a day, practicing with the other dancers to prepare for the Super Bowl halftime show. He did not tell anyone about his plan to unveil the flag during Lamar’s performance.
The post Super Bowl Protester Breaks Silence About Disrupting Kendrick Lamar’s Halftime Show With ‘Sudan, Gaza’ Flag first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.