Ahead of a press conference in New York on Wednesday, there are reports that JAY Z and Roc Nation will be announcing a partnership with the NFL.
According to the New York Times, Roc Nation will be consulting the league on entertainment as the “live music entertainment strategist,” which includes the Super Bowl Halftime Show. They will also be contributing to social justice programs like Inspire Change, that donates to groups fighting for criminal justice reform.
Considering they will be involved in the halftime show, JAY Z will have a role in producing the star studded music performance and selecting who is in it.
“The NFL has a great big platform, and it has to be all-inclusive. They were willing to do some things, to make some changes, that we can do some good.”
With recent NFL controversy, the league can also benefit from this with younger viewers and those who have been boycotting or off-put through the national anthem situation and the division that came from Colin Kaepernick kneeling.
Currently Roc Nation Sports manages NFL players and superstars like Saquon Barkley, Todd Gurley and Dez Bryant (among others) and could benefit greatly from the “sweeping business partnership” with the league moving forward.
UPDATE: In a press conference to announce the news, Hov addressed Kaepernick saying he is not is boss but had talked to him prior to the deal being done. This is what he had to say:
“I think that we forget that Colin’s whole thing was to bring attention to social injustice, correct? So in that case this is a success; this is the next thing. ‘Cause there’s two parts of protesting. You go outside and you protest, and then the company or the individual says, ‘I hear you. What do we do next?’ So for me it was like, action, actionable item, what are we going to do with it? Everyone heard and we hear what you’re saying, and everybody knows I agree with what you’re saying. So what are we going to do? So we should, millions of millions of people, and all we get stuck on [is] Colin not having a job.
I’m not knocking anything he’s doing, and I hope he doesn’t knock what I’m doing.”
Kaepernick’s girlfriend says Jay never spoke to Colin and it’s a lie.
THIS is a lie. COLIN never spoke to Jay-Z and NFL ahead of that deal being done. They NEVER included him in any discussion 👉🏽 https://t.co/TWmoXS4JVJ pic.twitter.com/2bjSIEtnjQ
— NESSA (@nessnitty) August 14, 2019
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