Rihanna was on a plane during the Super Bowl last night, and she had the opposite of FOMO. RiRi shared three Instagram Stories, roasting fellow passengers trying to figure out how to watch the game while in the air. In the first, she wrote, "How can we watch the Super Bowl on the flight. Me:," and shared her unbothered reaction.
She then posted a second video of what a man behind her seemingly watching the game. She posed a "Weirdo" banner right above his head:
[asset removed due to syndication rights]The third is where she set the record straight: No one should be surprised she's not watching. "For those of you who thought I was watchin' Super Bowl, we beefin'," she wrote over an illustration by Nikkolas Smith of Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback who took the knee during the National Anthem in protest against systemic racism in 2016. Kaepernick lost his position on his team the next year and was not draft by any other NFL team despite his promise as a player. In 2017, he filed a collusion grievance against the NFL, alleging the organization helped blackball him. He cited that "athletes should not be denied employment based on partisan political provocation."
[asset removed due to syndication rights]Many celebrities avoided the game this year to show solidarity for him. Cardi B turned down performing at the Halftime Show to show solidarity with Kaepernick. And Rihanna herself was reported back in October to have rejected the offer to perform at the event for the same reason.
“The NFL and CBS really wanted Rihanna to be next year’s performer in Atlanta,” a source told Us Weekly at the time. “They offered it to her, but she said no because of the kneeling controversy. She doesn’t agree with the NFL’s stance.”
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she's not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.
