‘There Was No Problem’: Dr. Dre Addresses Eminem Taking A Knee During Super Bowl Halftime Show

Fans are still reeling over the halftime performance at Super Bowl LVI, which featured performing artists who were most popular decades ago. Older Millennials were thrilled to relive their teenage years listening to Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige perform some of their retro hits.

The show was mostly uncontroversial and lacked any wardrobe malfunctions. However, there was a long moment when rapper Eminem took a knee which set off a firestorm on social media. Some said the artist was likely making the move in solidarity with former NFL player Colin Kapernick, who began the trend of players kneeling for the national anthem several years ago. 

Others claimed he was kneeling out of respect for the late rapper Tupac Shakur, whose song was being played on the piano at the time Eminem was kneeling. Either way, fellow performer Dr. Dre addressed the situation following the show, saying the NFL was quite aware Eminem would kneel and didn’t care about it. 

Dr. Dre spoke with TMZ about what the NFL allowed for the performance plus what got cut from the show, KTLA reported. The kneeling event was apparently planned for and permitted by the NFL.

“There were a few things that we had to change, but they were really minor things,” the 56-year-old rapper told TMZ. 

To the insinuation that Eminem taking a knee was a surprise move, Dre said it’s not true.

“Em taking a knee, that was Em doing that on his own and there was no problem with that,” the performer said. 

Dre also mentioned that Lamar had to omit a song lyric that referenced gangs, but mentioned how no one was upset about it.

“All in all, everybody came in, we were professional, everybody was on time, everybody really felt the magnitude of what that thing was and what we were going to be able to accomplish,” the rapper told TMZ. “It was a fantastic experience.”

Meanwhile, Snoop Dogg performed his classic songs “The Next Episode” and “California Love.” But the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association encouraged fans to boycott the artist over explicitly violent lyrics from a song Snoop just put out called “Police.” The collaboration encourages listeners to shoot police officers.

Snoop didn’t perform the controversial new song at the Super Bowl. However, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s performance of “Still D.R.E.” included Dre’s anti-police lyric, “Still not loving police” loud enough to be heard across the stadium.

“I’m not trying to be egotistical or anything, but who else could do this show here in L.A.?” Dre said in a press conference before the show, according to ET Online. “Who else could perform the halftime show, other than these amazing artists that we put together?”

With the exception of a few notable critics, most people on both sides of the political aisle enjoyed the halftime show.

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