Tomi Lahren blasts Jay-Z's NFL deal: 'Apparently the league doesn't hate America' enough

Updated ·4 min read
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In news that will surprise no one, Tomi Lahren isn't a fan of Jay-Z's deal with the NFL.

On Tuesday, it was reported the rapper and his Roc Nation agency are partnering with the NFL on community activism and entertainment ventures tied to league events. The Fox Nation host lambasted the decision on Twitter, writing, "apparently the league doesn’t hate America and law enforcement officers at a level satisfactory enough for the former drug dealer."

Although Lahren's response was extreme, the news of Jay-Z's partnership elicited mixed reactions online.

Jay-Z was aware of what some of his critics would say. In an interview with The Washington Post, he admitted "of course" he had some reservations about partnering with the league at a time when quarterback Colin Kaepernick is still out of a job.

"I think that when you’re discussing these sort of issues, everything is going to be tough," Beyoncé's husband said. "You can either go home, you can pack your bag and sit in the house, or you can choose to take it head-on. And that’s pretty much how we operate at Roc Nation. We seek to identify things that we want to be a part of and things that we believe that we can add value to, and we step in and we come with these ideas. And to their credit, the NFL agreed to these ideas."

He continued, "All these ideas come from this building except for ‘Inspire Change,’ which existed but we built it out. So we know it’ll be difficult. But we think at the end of the day, a lot of people will benefit from the NFL’s platform and the things that we brought to the table. We think it could help a lot of people."

Jay-Z will co-produce the Super Bowl halftime show, but will not necessarily perform according to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

"He was very quick to say that he does not want this to be about him performing, that it was broader than that," Goodell told the Washington Post in an interview. "It quickly went beyond that. Do I hope he’ll perform in the Super Bowl sometime in the next several years? Yes. But I think we’ll all know if that time comes. He’ll know in particular."

Roc Nation will also be the league’s official live music entertainment strategist. Financial terms of the partnership have not been disclosed.

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