Super Bowl halftime protester wanted to ‘highlight the human suffering’ of Palestinians

The performer in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show who was detained after showing a Sudanese-Palestinian flag Sunday said he wanted to “highlight the human suffering” of Palestinians. 

Zül-Qarnain Nantambu, 41, spoke with NBC News after the incident, saying he was accepted about a month ago to perform in the halftime show. 

Nantambu was detained after holding up a combination flag with the words “Sudan” and “Gaza” written on it. The NFL said he would be banned from all stadiums and events for life. New Orleans Police did not press charges.

On Monday, President Trump gave a stark warning to Hamas, which has paused its release of hostages, saying he would undo the ceasefire agreement made with Israel if the Palestinian militant group doesn’t release the hostages. 

Nantambu told NBC News that he sees some good in Trump and hopes he will be “empathetic and compassionate to those who are suffering in Palestine,” even as the president says he has a proposal to take over Gaza and not allow Palestinians to return.

Since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. About 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel that started the war.

Nantambu told NBC that his protest was inspired by his Islamic faith, as well as Lamar’s political performance. 

During the halftime show, Lamar made several references to political issues, including having his dancers dressed in red, white and blue, posing in an American flag formation. That use of symbolism is what kept Nantambu from backing out of the Sudanese-Palestinian protest he planned. 

“He had the people formulate the American flag; he had two big black flags with his record label,” Nantambu said. “And he talked about the revolution being televised, and he talked about consciousness.” 

The performance continued without a major disruption and the flag did not appear to be  broadcast live during the halftime show, but video of Nantambu holding the flag before being apprehended by security spread on social media. No one involved in the production reportedly knew Nantambu planned to unfurl the flag. 

He said he hopes his small act of protest is able to motivate others to speak out. 

“Maybe we don’t have the military prowess to stop the war, but we can at least do what we can to help those who are afflicted by these different atrocities in these countries,” Nantambu said.