SB LIX performer arrested by La. State Police for halftime protest - ESPN

A performer at Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl LIX halftime show in February has been arrested after holding up a Sudanese flag there with the message «Sudan and Free Gaza,» Louisiana State Police announced Thursday.

The performer, Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu, 41, of New Orleans surrendered to authorities after an arrest warrant was obtained, state police said. He was booked into the Orleans Parish Justice Center on charges of resisting an officer and disturbing the peace by interruption of a lawful assembly.

State police say troopers began investigating shortly after the Feb. 9 game at the Caesars Superdome and found that Nantambu «deviated from his assigned role» and disrupted the halftime show by running across the field with the flag. Security and law enforcement personnel ran after him, and he refused to comply with their commands to stop, state police said in a statement Thursday.

«In coordination with the National Football League, troopers learned that Nantambu had permission to be on the field during the performance, but did not have permission to demonstrate as he did,» state police said.

Neither jail records nor online court records list a lawyer for Nantambu who could be reached for comment.

The arrest comes after New Orleans police said shortly after the football game at Caesars Superdome that the cast member would not face charges. But it was Louisiana State Police who announced the charges Thursday.

New Orleans police initially responded to the disturbance, but Louisiana State Police then took over the investigation, partly due to the performer's access to a highly secured area, Louisiana State Police Sgt. Katharine Stegall said in an email to The Associated Press.

The NFL on Thursday said it commends the