Cardi B. explains why she turned down the Super Bowl halftime show

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ABC/Image Group LAEven though Cardi B spent the week performing in Atlanta, she skipped out on a chance to take center stage with Maroon 5 during the Super Bowl’s halftime show.

Ahead of her full interview with ABC’s TJ Holmes on Nightline,  Cardi says that the only circumstances under which she would have performed at the halftime show this year would have been if “they hired my friend back,” referring to former player Colin Kaepernick.

Kaepernick, who was previously a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, protested racial injustice in the U.S. by kneeling during the national anthem before football games. He has not been signed to an NFL team since 2017. Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL in October of 2018, alleging that NFL team owners colluded to keep him out of the league because of his protests. That case is still pending.

Cardi B added that she would have performed “if the guys take action on what’s really going on. And understand, like, why was this so important and such a uproar. Understand why.”

“It do mean a lot to me,” she said. “He’s standing up for minorities. And it’s like, if we don’t support, who stands up for us? Who’s going to support us?”

The Bronx native says that she comes from a “melting pot,” adding that she “grew up in different ethnicities of minorities so I, I sympathize with everybody you know.”

“I see how minorities struggle and for somebody to stand up for us, we got to support,” she continues. “And they need to understand why he stand up for us. It’s crazy.”

Also tonight on ABC’s Nightline, Cardi opens up on the status of her relationship with Offset, and how she’s working on securing a better future for her daughter, Kulture.

 ABC News’ Nightline tonight at 12:35 a.m.


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