This thesis examines black celebrity anti-racist activism as a significant part of contemporary popular culture. Using Beyoncé’s 2016 Superbowl 50 halftime show and NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s 2016 “Take a Knee” protest as case studies, I employ discursive textual analysis to thematically unpack how these celebrities and their political activism is articulated and debated within mainstream news media. My analysis reveals multiple competing discourses that situate Beyoncé and Kaepernick as both inspiring political leaders and dangerous, militant figures. Based on this analysis, I argue that news media coverage of Beyoncé and Kaepernick function as a site for negotiation over meanings around historical and contemporary racial politics, pointing to the important work that black celebrity activism does within media cultures today.