Jay-Z says he only sat during the Super Bowl national anthem because he was in 'artist mode'

That video of Jay-Z and Beyoncé remaining seated during the Super Bowl national anthem? Don't read too much into it.

After TMZ published a video Sunday of the two stars sitting while Demi Lovato performed the national anthem at the Super Bowl, many interpreted this a protest and likely a show of support for Colin Kaepernick. But Jay-Z is now clarifying that actually, it was completely unintentional.

“It actually wasn't — sorry," Jay-Z said at a Columbia University Q&A when asked if remaining seated was an attempt to send a message, Page Six reports. Instead, Jay-Z said that he and Beyoncé were simply preoccupied.

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"My wife was with me and so she says to me, 'I know this feeling right here,'" Jay-Z explained, per Page Six. "Like, she's super-nervous because she's performed at Super Bowls before. I haven't. So we get there and we immediately jump into artist mode ... now I'm really just looking at the show. Did the mic start? Was it too low to start?"

Jay-Z and Beyoncé evidently got distracted talking about these questions and about Lovato, "how beautiful she looked, and how she sounds and what she's going through." When someone subsequently alerted Jay-Z to the fact that he and Beyoncé weren't standing during the national anthem, he explained his reaction was, "What?"

The idea that Jay-Z might have intentionally been engaged in a silent protest had been particularly intriguing given his partnership with the NFL. But don't worry; if he were staging a silent protest, Jay-Z noted, "I'd tell you."