Maroon 5 continues to make headlines for their Super Bowl LIII halftime show. On Tuesday, the National Football League announced that Maroon 5 will not participate in a Super Bowl press conference, a traditional pregame event that most all musicians performing at the major football championship have taken part of.
According to a press release, the NFL said not only will the band participate in “social and digital media rollout” prior to their big performance, but also, “Maroon 5 has been working hard on a Pepsi Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show that will meet and exceed the standards of this event. As it is about music, the artists will let their show do the talking as they prepare to take the stage this Sunday.”
Maroon 5 has faced a lot of criticism ever since announcing they would be performing at this year’s Super Bowl with rapper Travis Scott and Big Boi. The latter two artists will reportedly not participate in the press conference either, as reported by Rolling Stone.
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— NFL345 (@NFL345) January 29, 2019
Many people have wondered why Maroon 5, Big Boi and Scott have decided to perform at the Super Bowl, especially due to the NFL and Colin Kaepernick’s legal battle and the former NFL player’s kneeling stance he and many other players have implemented during the national anthem in an effort to protest police brutality. Other artists, like Cardi B and Rihanna, reportedly turned down Super Bowl halftime show offers as a way to stand with Kaepernick.
On Tuesday, Maroon 5 also announced that they, along with the NFL and their label, Interscope Records, would donate $500,000 to Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America. The band’s lead singer, Adam Levine, told People, “Playing the Super Bowl has been a dream of our band for a long time. We thank the NFL for the opportunity and also to them, along with Interscope Records, for making this donation to Big Brothers Big Sisters, which will have a major impact for children across the country.”
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— Maroon 5 (@maroon5) January 13, 2019
Speaking of making donations, Billboard reported in January that Scott only agreed to perform after the NFL said they would make a joint $500,000 donation to Van Jones’ Dream Corps, a cause for social justice.
“I back anyone who takes a stand for what they believe in,” Scott said in a statement given to Billboard about the donation. “I know being an artist that it’s in my power to inspire. So before confirming the Super Bowl Halftime performance, I made sure to partner with the NFL on this important donation. I am proud to support Dream Corps and the work they do that will hopefully inspire and promote change.”
Maroon 5 has remained relatively silent regarding the backlash they’ve faced, but keyboardist PJ Morton defended his group’s choice in a January chat with People.
“I think there are plenty of people — a lot of the players, to be honest — who support Kap and also do their job for the NFL,” Morton said. “I think we’re doing the same thing. We can support being against police brutality against black and brown people and be in support of being able to peacefully protest and still do our jobs. We just want to have a good time and entertain people while understanding the important issues that are at hand. There was a lot to go into that decision.”
Who knows what will go down during Maroon 5’s highly discussed halftime show, but everyone will just have to wait and see if their performance really does all the talking.
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