There were contradicting reports on how the NFL took Eminem’s gesture of solidarity to the Black community on the Super Bowl stage. Dr. Dre says there is nothing to speculate about.
That was a TMZ show Dr. Dre was late to because he wanted to treat himself to a burger after weeks of staying on a healthy diet in preparations for the Super Bowl. When he finally made it to talk to hosts, Dre cleared the air about alleged tension between artists and the NFL.
First of all, there were rumours that the NFL wanted Eminem to give up his plans to take a knee on stage. It seemed plausible, as the NFL and ROC Nation led by Jay-Z would very much leave this controversial topic behind and claim that the league had moved on since Kapernik was booted out for protesting on the field. Dr. Dre says that there was no resistance from the NFL to Em’s decision. Secondly, people say that Kendrick Lamar had to censor his lyrics to remove mentions about police hostility. According to Dre, the only thing removed is the names of two rival West Coast gangs, Piru Bloods and Compton Crips.
Dr. Dre said on camera:
There were a few things that we had to change, but these were really minor things. Em taking a knee that was Em doing that, on his own. There was no problem with that. At the beginning of Kendrick’s set, he says, “If Pyrus and Crips…” They had a problem with that, so we had to take that out. No big deal, we get it. Everybody came in. We were professional, everybody was on time, and everybody felt the magnitude of what this thing was and what we were going to be able to accomplish. It was a fantastic experience.
Watch the video below:
