Whitlock: Kendrick Lamar halftime performance was the NFL saying, 'We hate America'
Over the years, the Super Bowl halftime stage has seen as much diversity as the teams who’ve competed for titles. From marching bands and drill teams to nonprofits and big-name musicians, football fans have seen it all over the 59 years the Super Bowl has been airing on national television.
Last Sunday, over 130 million people across the country tuned in to watch American rapper Kendrick Lamar perform a set list of his most popular songs in a spectacle that included actor Samuel L. Jackson dressed up as Uncle Sam, fellow musician SZA, and retired pro tennis player Serena Williams.
Jason Whitlock says it was the worst halftime show in the history of the Super Bowl.
It was “the most confusing, boring, deceptively angry thing we've ever seen,” he says, blaming the “DEI woke folks” in the NFL.
One of the most glaring problems, he says, was that the majority of the audience didn’t know the lyrics and couldn’t sing along, which is the point of a halftime show. Kendrick Lamar’s “biggest song is ‘Not Like Us,”’ which is “popular,” but it “hasn't been out there long enough to really cross over” and appeal to a wide audience.
“The reason you put a Michael Jackson out there, the reason you put a Janet Jackson, a Justin Timberlake [out there]” is because “they have so many crossover, major, major songs that when they start to play them, the audience goes, ‘Oh! I remember that song!’ and they start screaming and clapping,” says Whitlock.
The most problematic aspect of the performance, however, was that it promoted more “hating America.”
The show, Whitlock says, was the “NFL's version of ‘Django Unchained,’” a 2012 pre-Civil War Western action film starring Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Samuel L. Jackson dressing up as Uncle Sam was a recreation of his role as Stephen — the loyal slave and friend of plantation owner Calvin Candie, he says.
The performance also alluded multiple times to "Squid Games" — a Netflix show about adults competing in deadly children’s games.
When Jackson opened the halftime show with, “It's your Uncle Sam, and this is the great American game,” he was comparing America to the Squid Games, Whitlock says.
Further, after Lamar’s intro singing “Squabble Up,” Jackson said, “No, no, no, no, no, that's too loud, too reckless, too ghetto! Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!”
Whitlock translates Jackson’s line: “Don't you know how to play the game, negro? ... All that gang violence you guys do — white people think that that's too loud, too reckless, and too ghetto. They're racist; they understand this is just how we deal with each other.”
Lamar’s performances of his songs “Humble” and “Not Like Us” further reinforced this toxic message.
But “because they dressed it up in red, white, and blue, and there was no nudity, and there was no obvious satanic messaging, it just went over a lot of people's heads,” says Whitlock.
“They just got in everyone's face using Samuel Jackson and Kendrick Lamar and said: 'We hate America; we hate you.'”
To hear more of Whitlock’s take, including his interpretation of Serena Williams’ appearance, watch the clip above.
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Anyone who actually watched 'Wednesday' can see that the 'racism' accusations are ridiculous and performative.
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