The NFL has denied reports that it tried to stop Eminem from taking the knee during his Super Bowl halftime performance on Sunday night.
Rap legend Eminem was one of the headlining acts of the halftime show, where he was joined on stage by fellow hip hop icons Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J Blige, and Snoop Dogg.
The electric performance - which has been hailed by many fans as the greatest halftime show of all time - took place at California's SoFi arena midway through a showdown between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals.
Aside from 50 Cent's surprise entrance, one of the show's most memorable moments was when Detroit rapper Eminem took a knee and held his head in his hand in an apparent protest against racist discrimination and police brutality.
The gesture was first popularized by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 as a form of symbolic protest. Since then, athletes across many sports have taken up the gesture.
Eminem - who took the knee straight after finishing a rendition of his Grammy-winning hit 'Lose Yourself' - has won widespread praise from fans for paying tribute to Kaepernick and his movement.
However, reports have also swirled that NFL organizers tried to ban the rapper from making the controversial gesture during rehearsals.
Now, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy has spoken out, strongly denying that the league tried to censor Eminem's performance The Independent reports.
"We watched all elements of the show during multiple rehearsals this week and were aware that Eminem was going to do that," said McCarthy in a statement.
"As you know, no player, coach, or personnel member has been sanctioned for taking a knee so there would be no reason for us to tell a performer he or she could not for whatever reason," he added.
Kaepernick has previously accused the league of colluding to blacklist him, after he was unable to find another quarterback position after he left the 49ers in 2017.
