Rihanna has just given us another reason to worship her with her comments about the Super Bowl halftime show and why she turned down the opportunity to perform.
In a recent interview with Vogue, Rihanna confirmed that she declined the performance to show support for quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who made a stand against racial injustice in 2016 by kneeling during the anthem at sports games.
“Absolutely,” she said. “I couldn’t dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler. There’s things within that organisation that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”
Rihanna dropped a number of truth bombs during her Vogue interview. When she was asked about Trump’s response to the mass shooting in El Paso this August, the singer wasn’t afraid to share her feelings. “It is devastating,” she told Vogue. “People are being murdered by war weapons that they legally purchase. This is just not normal. That should never, ever be normal.”
“And the fact that it’s classified as something different because of the colour of their skin? It’s a slap in the face. It’s completely racist,” Rihanna said. “Put an Arab man with that same weapon in that same Walmart and there is no way that Trump would sit there and address it publicity as a mental health problem.”
“The most mentally ill human being in America right now seems to be the president,” she said.
During the interview, Rihanna also touched on her relationship with boyfriend, Saudi businessman Hassan Jameel. “Yeah I’m dating,” she said. “I’m actually in an exclusive relationship for quite some time, and it’s going really well, so I’m happy.”
Like Kaepernick, it’s clear that Rihanna isn’t afraid to keep it real and stand up for what she believes in – that is something we can all get on board with.