The gesture was made famous by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick as an act of protest against police brutality and racial discrimination, and there was a report that the NFL asked Eminem not to.
“Im taking a knee was doing it alone,” Dr. Dre said of someone under his care. “And there was no problem with that.”
In a statement to CNN on Sunday, the NFL said they had no problem with the rappers kneeling.
“We watched all the elements of the show during multiple rehearsals this week, and we knew Eminem would be doing so,” the statement read. “The player or coach could have injured his knee and there would be no repercussions so there was no reason to tell the artist he couldn’t do it.”
Dr. Dre told TMZ that there were minor changes the NFL had made, including removing a reference to bands in one of Lamar’s songs, which Dre said was “not a big deal.”
“We came in generally, everyone was professional, everyone was on schedule,” he said. “Everyone really felt the scale of this thing and what we were going to be able to achieve. It was a great experience.”
This was the first time that hip-hop artists were the featured performers of the NFL’s biggest night.