The Rams might have defeated the Bengals, but last night’s Super Bowl LVI halftime show is overshadowing the game for a myriad of reasons. The mid-game performance was the first halftime show to exclusively celebrate hip-hop artists, with a showcase of musicians discovered or produced by the legendary Dr. Dre. Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Eminem, and Kendrick Lamar medlied songs mostly from the early aughts, giving the show peak millennial nostalgia. But amidst the revelry were two significant moments that belie the NFL’s false promises of inclusivity; Eminem took a knee during his performance of “Lose Yourself,” and part of Kendrick’s lyric “and we hate po-po, wanna kill us dead in the streets fo’ sho’” was censored on his performance of “Alright.” Today, the NFL is making confounding statements that not only contradict their long-running history of promoting police and military propaganda, but also just make it sound like they’re lying altogether.
Puck reported ahead of the game on Sunday that the halftime show was causing a behind-the-scenes divide before artists even took the stage. Dr. Dre reportedly put up the majority of the $7 million that the performance cost himself (continuing the annual practice of the NFL not paying Super Bowl halftime show performers), while also buying an extra box suite for friends to watch from, but he apparently received pushback on the show’s cultural message — which the NFL is now denying.
