The protester who unfurled a Palestine flag during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show is now banned for life from NFL stadiums and events, CBS News reports.
Footage on social media showed the man waving the flag while standing on top of the GNX car used by the rapper for his set during Sunday’s showpiece game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. He was then chased off stage and later tackled to the ground by security.
The flag bore the words "Gaza" and "Sudan,” written over the Palestinian flag.
After being approached by a member of security, he jumped off the elevated platform and ran around the lower level for around 45 seconds, dodging dancers carrying large standards.
The man was later tackled to the ground and carried off by several security guards.
Some on social media suggested that the protester had been part of Lamar’s performance before taking out the flag, though this was unclear.
New Orleans police are now determining whether the performer will face any charges, according to CBS News.
"We commend security for quickly detaining the individual who displayed the flag,” the NFL said in a statement. “He was a part of the 400-member field cast. The individual hid the item on his person and unveiled it late in the show. No one involved with the production was aware of the individual's intent.”
Roc Nation, the company behind the halftime show, also confirmed the protest was “neither planned nor part of the production and was never in any rehearsal."
The incident comes shortly after Donald Trump’s controversial proposal for the US to “take over” Gaza and remove much of its Palestinian population.
During a recent press conference at the White House, during which he was joined by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the president said that the U.S. “will take over the Gaza Strip” with a “a long-term ownership position.”
He estimated that about 1.8 million of the near-2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza would have to be relocated to achieve his vision of turning what he called a “hell hole” into “the Riviera of the Middle East”.
Gaza, Trump said, “has been a symbol of death and destruction for so many decades, and so bad for the people anywhere near it, and especially those who live there”.
The president was also present during Sunday’s Big Game, and predicted a Chiefs win shortly before the game.
