Eminem's Daughter Is All Smiles During Super Bowl Halftime
Eminem's 26-year-old daughter Hailie Jade Mathers was there at SoFi stadium cheering on her dad as he took to the stage alongside hip-hop heavyweights Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar during Sunday's Super Bowl LVI halftime show performance.
Hailie Jade documented her Super Bowl experience on social media, smiling as she looked down on the field in one shot she captioned, "here for the halftime show, staying for stafford," shouting out Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, who previously played for the Detroit Lions. Eminem's fans were thrilled to see Hailie there to watch her dad perform, with one person commenting, "WE LOVE A SUPPORTIVE DAUGHTER!" Others declared just how "iconic" the performance was, while another fan chimed in, "Must be crazy to see your father up there performing! I couldn't imagine what that's like!"
Eminem made waves in the well-received performance when he took a knee on stage at the end of "Lose Yourself," adding his gesture to a long list of athletes who have taken a knee to protest police brutality and social injustice after Colin Kaepernick first made the controversial move during the 2016 NFL season. Eminem has long been a public supporter of Kaepernick's movement.
During the BET Hip Hop Awards in 2017, the rapper performed a fiery freestyle in which he cheered on Kaepernick's commentary on racism and police brutality while calling out former President Donald Trump. "F- that, this is for Colin, ball up a fist and keep that s- balled like Donald the b-," he rapped at the time. Also in 2017, Eminem referenced Kaepernick in the lyrics of his song "Untouchable," rapping, ""Somebody has to be the sacrificial lamb ... So they call it a Kaepernick tantrum ...If you don't stand for the national anthem ... We raise it, you better praise it."
Despite reports that the NFL was attempting to stop Eminem from taking a knee on stage, the league released a statement Sunday that it was "aware" of the artist's planned gesture. "We watched all elements of the show during multiple rehearsals this week and were aware that Eminem was going to do that," league spokesman Brian McCarthy said, as per ESPN.