Maroon 5 singer 'would like to move on' from Super Bowl controversy

Days after it was announced the band would not hold the customary pre-Halftime show press conference, Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine has spoken exclusively to Entertainment Tonight.

The band has been criticised after several top artists including Cardi B and Rihanna were reported to have turned down the show - seen as one of the biggest gigs in the US music calendar - in solidarity with NFL players who have knelt in protest during the national anthem and in particular - blacklisted player Colin Kapaernick.

“I’m not in the right profession if I can’t handle a little bit of controversy,"" he told ET.

"It’s what it is. We expected it. We’d like to move on from it.”

He claimed the decision to perform did not come lightly, adding: “No one thought about it harder than I did.

“It took a lot of looking inward, it took a lot of introspection.

“I thought to myself, ‘What’s my greatest tool, what’s the thing that I can use to express myself and what’s the best way for the band to express themselves, and how are we going to do it this year? What do we owe ourselves? What do we owe the people?’ And that’s what we did.

Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters has weighed in on the issue and urged Adam and his band to "take a knee" during their Super Bowl performance, which is excepted to be watched by an audience of up to 100m in the US.

He posted a video of himself and his own band doing the same at a gig in Connecticut and in the accompanying text wrote: "My colleagues Maroon 5, Travis Scott and Big Boi are performing during the halftime show at the Super-bowl this coming Sunday, I call upon them to “take a knee” on stage in full sight.

"I call upon them to do it in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, to do it for every child shot to death on these mean streets, to do it for every bereaved mother and father and brother and sister."