The protester who unfurled a flag displaying the words “Sudan” and “Gaza” during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance has been barred from ever stepping foot in an NFL stadium again, the league announced Monday.
The protester, who was part of a 400-person cast involved in the halftime show, was seeking to draw attention to two of the worst ongoing conflicts: In Gaza, more than 46,000 people have been killed since Israel launched a war on the Palestinian territory following the Hamas-led terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023; in Sudan, some 150,000 people are estimated to have died since April 2023 as a result of a civil war between the country’s armed forces and a Russia-backed paramilitary.
In a statement, the NFL said that it would be the last time the protester ever stepped foot on one of its fields.
“No one involved with the production was aware of the individual’s intent,” a league spokesperson said in a statement, per the Associated Press. “The individual will [be] banned for life from all NFL stadiums and events.”
After holding up the flag, the protester was questioned by New Orleans police, who initially said that “law enforcement is working to determine applicable charges in this incident.”
New Orleans police said Monday that the man was neither arrested nor charged with a crime.
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