A performer at Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime show unfurled a flag emblazoned with the words "Sudan" and "Gaza" in a protest over the two wars roiling the Middle East.
As reported by CBS News, security personnel at the stadium detained the performer shortly after the flag was waved atop a car used as a prop in the performance. New Orleans police said the man was ejected from the stadium after the incident, and no arrest or summons was issued.
As reported Monday by ESPN, the New Orleans Police Department said in a statement that "law enforcement is working to determine applicable charges in this incident."
The NFL said the person would be banned for life from NFL stadiums and events, according to CBS. "We commend security for quickly detaining the individual who displayed the flag. 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," the league said.
Roc Nation, the entertainment company that produced Sunday night's show, said the act "was neither planned nor part of the production and was never in any rehearsal," ESPN reported, adding the show continued without interruption, and it did not seem the person was shown on the broadcast of Lamar's performance.
Per the CBS report, the Gaza Strip is an enclave along the Mediterranean Sea bordered by both Egypt and Israel. It covers some 140 square miles and was home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the start of the 2023 Israel-Hamas war.
The war began when Hamas — which has ruled Gaza since 2007 and has long designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and Israeli governments — stormed across the border into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage. Israel responded with a devastating ground and air campaign across Gaza, killing more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run region, who do not differentiate between fighters and noncombatants in their count. Much of the territory has been left in ruins, and it's unclear how it could be rebuilt.
A ceasefire began Jan. 19 and is still holding. Palestinian militants have freed hostages while Israel has released Palestinians held in prisons there. However, worries remains over whether the deal will hold.
Sudan, a nation in northeastern Africa, has been unstable since a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocratic President Omar al-Bashir in 2019. A short-lived transition to democracy was derailed when army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led a military coup in 2021.
In recent weeks, Burhan's forces, including Sudan's military and allied militias, have advanced against the RSF. They retook a key refinery north of Khartoum, Sudan's capital. They've also pushed in on RSF positions around Khartoum itself. From Jan. 31 until Feb. 5, the U.N.s' Human Rights Office documented at least 275 civilian deaths from artillery, airstrikes and drone assaults.
