Super Bowl
Lil Wayne is officially no longer down with the Super Bowl after organizers chose Kendrick Lamar for the 2025 Halftime Show. (And no, he didn’t watch Dot’s performance.)
Following the controversy surrounding this year’s headliner selection, Weezy revealed in the Rolling Stone cover story published Thursday (April 17) that he’ll never again consider playing the Big Game after being passed up to perform in 2025. The piece comes about seven months after the NFL announced that Lamar would take the stage at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans — the “Lollipop” rapper’s home city — after which Wayne told Instagram followers that he was “hurt” by the decision.
“They stole that feeling,” he tells the publication now of the NFL. “I don’t want to do it. It was perfect.”
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On that note, Wayne adds that he didn’t even watch Lamar’s February performance. Instead, he played pool with Lil Twist and went outside to smoke during the set. And every time he did peek at his TV screen during the show, he says there “was nothing that made me want to go inside and see what was going on.”
And despite saying that he’s on good terms with the “Euphoria” hitmaker, Tunechi did throw a little shade Lamar’s way. While listening back to some of the music he’s working on for upcoming album Tha Carter VI, Wayne apparently said of Dot’s halftime show: “They coulda had some music. But instead they got rappin’.”
“They f–ked up,” he added of the NFL.
Though Wayne technically wasn’t one of them, Lamar’s Halftime Show performance brought in 133.5 million viewers on game day — more than any other Super Bowl set in history. In addition to performing his smash Drake diss track “Not Like Us,” the Compton rapper also cycled through a number of the songs on his November album GNX, which spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
One song Lamar didn’t play from the LP, however, was opener “Wacced Out Murals” — the lyrics to which feature one of the only comments Lamar has made on the Wayne Super Bowl situation. “Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down,” he spits on the track. “Whatever though, call me crazy, everybody questionable.”
In the Rolling Stone piece, however, Wayne opened up more about why he took the snub so personally, revealing that he more so takes issue with the NFL for allegedly leading him to believe that he was a frontrunner for the gig.
“To perform, it’s a bunch of things they’re going to tell you to do and not do, a–es to kiss and not kiss,” he said. “If you notice, I was a part of things I’ve never been a part of. Like [Michael] Rubin’s all-white parties. I’m doing s–t with Tom Brady. That was all for that. You ain’t never seen me in them types of venues. I ain’t Drake. I ain’t out there smiling like that everywhere. I’m in the stu’, smokin’ and recording.”
Wayne claimed that his contacts at the NFL later apologized and told him that they weren’t “in charge” of the selection process after Lamar’s slot was announced. (Per producer Jesse Collins, Jay-Z — whose company Roc Nation oversees the alftime show — has selected every headliner since 2019. Even so, Wayne says he’s still cool with his “Mr. Carter” collaborator.)
“All of a sudden, according to them, they got curved,” Wayne added to the publication of the NFL. “So, I’m going to have to just settle with whatever they say.”
Billboard has reached out to the NFL for comment.
See Weezy on the cover of Rolling Stone below.
Tennis great Serena Williams had the honor of being named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025 and was asked about her viral cameo during Kendrick Lamar‘s Super Bowl halftime show.
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She told Time that she and fellow Compton native Lamar have been “trying to do something together for ages,” but when he first reached out to ask if she would crip walk during his performance of “Not Like Us,” just as she did after winning Wimbledon for the fifth time in 2012, Williams admitted to being a bit confused.
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“I’m like, ‘Wait, what, you’re asking me?’” she admitted. “I’m not Taylor Swift, let’s be honest. I would have a better chance to be quarterback at the Super Bowl than dance.”
However, she didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to represent for their shared hometown, even if it meant dancing while a diss aimed at her ex-boyfriend Drake was playing. “Who would have thought that a tennis player from Compton would be regarded as one of the best tennis players of all time?” she asked. “It was just putting an exclamation on it.”
Williams is still not sure if she regrets it, though, telling the outlet, “I don’t know if I regret it or not. I don’t know the answer to that.” She also doesn’t feel like she was dissing the Toronto rapper. “Absolutely not. I would never do that,” the 23-time singles champ asserted. “And that was sad, that anyone would ever think that. I respect how they could. Obviously, I can see how someone would think that. But absolutely not.”
She added: “I have never had negative feelings towards him. We’ve known him for so many years.”
Back in 2022, on the song “Middle of the Ocean” from his joint album Her Loss with 21 Savage, Drake called Williams’ husband, Reddit co-founder Alex Ohanian, “a groupie,” which prompted Ohanian to respond on X. “The reason I stay winning is because I’m relentless about being the absolute best at whatever I do — including being the best groupie for my wife & daughter,” Ohanian wrote at the time.
From touring with Taylor Swift in 2013 to selling out stadiums on his own in the years since, Ed Sheeran has performed on some pretty big stages in his career — but the Super Bowl Halftime Show probably won’t ever be added to that list, he says.
On the latest episode of Call Her Daddy posted Tuesday (April 8), the “Bad Habits” singer opened up about his friendship with the Eras superstar as well as revealed whether he’d ever headline the biggest American sporting event of the year. When host Alex Cooper asked if he’d ever been asked to play the Super Bowl, he began, “There was a conversation about 10 years ago to go on with someone, and I think that’d be the only way that I would do it at the moment.”
“I don’t think English artists … I mean, there are some that have the pizazz of Super Bowl, fireworks, dancers, blah, blah, blah, but me going up there and being like, here’s ‘The A Team’ and here’s ‘Perfect,’ no one wants to see that,” Sheeran continued, laughing. “Whereas if there was a show with a lot of that, like if it was Beyoncé’s show, and she had all the bells and whistles, and then there was a moment where we sang ‘Perfect’ together, that makes sense to me.”
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The four-time Grammy winner did say that he thinks he could “nail one song” as a guest artist sharing the Super Bowl stage with someone else, but beyond that, he thinks his catalog “doesn’t really lend itself” to the high-energy gameday environment. “Have you seen me play as well? Because it’s with a loop pedal and you have to build the things,” he added. “Doesn’t really lend itself to the Super Bowl. ‘Hey, hang on guys. I’ve just gotta set this up for two minutes.’ You know?”
The interview comes about two months after the 2024 Super Bowl, which Kendrick Lamar headlined with assistance from SZA. In recent years, Usher, Rihanna and The Weeknd have also all added the coveted gig to their resumes.
One star who has generated much speculation over the past few years as to whether she might ever headline is Swift, whom Sheeran has known for more than a decade. Also on Call Her Daddy, the “Shape of You” musician opened up about his longtime friendship with the pop star, sharing that he recently went through their text conversations after being forced to dig out his old devices while preparing his defense for his ongoing legal battle over copyright issues.
“It was really nostalgic going through,” he told Cooper. “I lived in Nashville, and she lived in Nashville, and we used to fly to and from the gigs together and do all sorts of … I don’t know. I literally spent almost every single day with her for about six months, so I think that period of time [was my favorite].”
Sheeran opened for Swift on the North American leg of her global trek supporting 2012’s Red album, on which the pair had a duet titled “Everything Has Changed.” The two singers have since worked together on several more duets, including “End Game” on Swift’s Reputation (2017) and “The Joker and the Queen” on Sheeran’s = (2021).
Now, the British star says he probably sees the “Karma” artist “like, four times a year.” “I see her when I see her,” he said on Call Her Daddy. “Like, instead of catching up the whole time, we have a proper sit-down, six-hour catchups, and I think that’s like a really nice way to do it.”
Watch Sheeran’s full interview above.
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Kendrick Lamar’s haters continue to arrive. The FCC received over 100 complaints regarding K. Dot’s Super Bowl LIX Halftime performance.
As spotted on Complex, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) heard a mouthful from 125 Americans on Super Bowl Sunday. According to TMZ, the FCC received several complaints about Kendrick’s halftime performance. The feedback ranged from inappropriate language, to the dancing being too provocative, and even that the talent featured was largely African American.
A small percentage of the complaints also noted that the show promoted his beef with Drake with one person saying, “Kendrick Lamar made fake false and scandalous claims that are unfounded.” Another message read, “He [said] Drake was a pedophile on TV in front of [a] million…[people], do better, this is a sad day.” A separate objection alleged that Serena Williams’ dance routine was gang affiliated.
It should be noted that Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show was viewed live by over 130 million people during the live stream, thus the number of grievances is not even equal to one percent. Since then, the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime show has amassed an estimated 3.65 billion views, which also includes reposts on social media and user generated content.
Antioch, Tenn., native and Billboard 200 chart-topping artist Jelly Roll has some specific artists in mind when it comes to dreaming up his ideal potential Super Bowl Halftime Show.
During an appearance on the podcast Bussin’ With the Boys alongside his friend and fellow singer-songwriter Ernest, Jelly Roll discussed how, if the Super Bowl were to be held in his hometown of Nashville, he would love to see a country music-focused, multi-generational Super Bowl Halftime Show.
“You know what my dream would be?” Jelly Roll said. “When it comes to Nashville, they do a country music Super Bowl. And it’s not even about an artist — like it cuts to Garth [Brooks] on one stage, and he’s doing ‘[Friends in Low Places],’ then it cuts to Reba [McEntire] and then Lainey [Wilson], and then me and then Morgan [Wallen]. It’s like, 18 minutes.”
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“The whole landscape,” adds Ernest.
Notably, country artists have been well-represented in singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl, thanks to performances over the years from Brooks, McEntire, Charley Pride, Chris Stapleton, Mickey Guyton and more. But Super Bowl Halftime Show performances from country artists have been rare. In 1994, the Rockin’ Country Sunday Super Bowl Halftime Show was led by Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt and The Judds. In 2003, Shania Twain was on the halftime show bill alongside Sting and No Doubt.
During the Jelly Roll/Ernest episode of Bussin’ With the Boys, they also discussed the artists they feel are going to be huge in country music over the next few years, naming artists including Ernest’s Big Loud labelmate Jake Worthington (on Big Loud Texas), Leo33 artist and “I Never Lie” hitmaker Zach Top and newcomer Chandler Walters. (Worthington and Top spearheaded a country music revival at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium recently.)
Asked how important it might be for modern-day country artists to appreciate the history of the genre, Jelly Roll and Ernest noted how they are drawn to artists who respect the genre’s rich canon of enduring songs and artists.
“In the grand scheme of things, I guess it doesn’t matter, but it’s something that matters to me,” Ernest said.
“It matters to me,” Jelly Roll agreed.
“I appreciate and gravitate towards the people it does matter to, and I feel like it is our responsibility to –I like doing covers of old records to keep those songs alive,” Ernest continued. “Jamey Johnson said it, too, he said, ‘As country singers, it is our responsibility to keep the spirit of those before us alive through songs’ — whether it be writing in that spirit, or covering those songs. Those songs are meant to be sung. Merle Haggard died, that doesn’t mean you can’t go cut his songs. The lifespan of a song has no cap on it. It’s gonna outlive all of us, either way.”
“My second Grand Ole Opry performance, I sung [a song by] Waylon [Jennings],” Jelly Roll added. “It was important to me. One, when I did it the first time … I thought this is a once-around-the-sun for me. When they brought me back [for a second Opry performance], I was doubling down, because I believe, like he said, that probably in the grand scheme it don’t matter, but to the community, it matters to some. I just love country music. Always have, so I just naturally … we flock towards the people [who love country music] … Dude, you’ve been out with me. I turn every bar into a honky tonk. As soon as I get into a bar, hook up my phone or show me where the TouchTunes is. I’m fixin’ to put $100 in this thing and run the gauntlet on y’all for the next two hours.”
Ernest added, “We’ll sit on the front porch at [Nashville venue] Losers [Bar & Grill] ’til four in the morning, hooked up to Bluetooth, playing old Hank Williams songs.”
Watch the full episode of Bussin’ With the Boys below:
A federal judge is refusing to allow Universal Music Group (UMG) to delay the start of Drake’s defamation lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” — a decision that came after Drake’s lawyers filed court documents complaining about Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show.
In a decision issued Tuesday (Mar. 4), Judge Jeannette Vargas denied UMG’s bid to postpone an initial hearing set for next month. The judge said that if UMG wants to push back the case — which claims “Not Like Us” defamed Drake by calling him a pedophile — it can argue for that request at the April hearing.
The procedural ruling came after Drake’s attorneys warned that further delays to the lawsuit would be unfair to their client, who they say is facing ongoing harm as the case works through the courts. In doing so, they cited one eye-catching piece of evidence: Lamar’s Super Bowl show.
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“Delaying discovery would unfairly prejudice plaintiff, who is continuing to suffer the consequences of UMG’s defamatory campaign,” Drake’s lawyers wrote. “At the same time UMG has been delaying here, UMG launched new campaigns to further spread the defamatory content, including at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, which had over 133.5 million viewers.”
Drake’s motion, filed last week, was the lawsuit’s first reference to the halftime show, in which Lamar avoided saying the word “pedophile” but otherwise directly attacked his rival. Since the Super Bowl, industry watchers have speculated over whether Lamar’s performance might spark additional legal claims or be used as fresh legal ammo by Drake’s legal team.
Lamar released “Not Like Us” last May amid a high-profile beef with Drake that saw the two stars exchange stinging diss tracks. The song, a knock-out punch that blasted Drake as a “certified pedophile” over an infectious beat, eventually became a chart-topping hit in its own right.
In January, Drake sued UMG over “Not Like Us,” claiming the label had defamed him by boosting the track’s popularity. The lawsuit, which doesn’t name Lamar himself as a defendant, claims that UMG “waged a campaign” against its own artist to spread a “malicious narrative” about pedophilia that it knew to be false.
UMG has strongly denied the lawsuit’s allegations, saying that it would be “illogical” for the company to conspire against one of its own artists in whom it had made a “massive” investment.
“We have not and do not engage in defamation—against any individual,” UMG said in its statement. “At the same time, we will vigorously defend this litigation to protect our people and our reputation, as well as any artist who might directly or indirectly become a frivolous litigation target for having done nothing more that write a song.”
In the lead up the Super Bowl, it was unclear if Lamar would play the song under a cloud of looming litigation. But when he took the stage on Feb. 9, he mocked the lawsuit and rapped the song’s key lyrical insults, including the line, “say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young.”
In a motion last month, UMG’s attorneys asked Judge Vargas to postpone the April hearing, arguing that the company would soon move to dismiss the case and that any exchanges of evidence (known as discovery) would be “premature” if the case were going to be tossed out entirely.
Drake’s lawyers quickly responded, claiming UMG was unfairly trying to halt the case without actually asking the judge: “UMG has neither moved to dismiss nor moved for a stay of discovery, and its attempt to achieve the latter by delaying the former are inappropriate.”
On Tuesday, Judge Vargas sided with Drake’s team, saying that it is “not the practice of this Court to routinely stay discovery pending the outcome of a motion to dismiss.” She said that UMG can seek to postpone discovery at the hearing, which is now set for April 2.
Andy Reid is not happy about the Taylor Swift slander. The Kansas City Chiefs coach joined NFL on NBC this week for a wide-ranging conversation about the Super Bowl, where he came to the “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” singer’s defense after she was met with boos from the crowd at the […]
Following an extremely prolific 2024, Kendrick Lamar has dominated headlines into 2025. On Feb. 2, “Not Like Us” was a five-time winner at the Grammy Awards, becoming the second rap song to win record and song of the year. A week later, he headlined the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show, spotlighting the smash, along with songs from his latest album, GNX, and more. It became the most-watched halftime show ever and resulted in some major chart moves: GNX returns to the top of the Billboard 200 and Lamar is the first rap artist to ever log three albums in the top 10 simultaneously. On the Billboard Hot 100, he reclaimed the top three spots, led by his Drake diss track “Not Like Us.”
Though football and the Super Bowl are American-based phenomena, the game is broadcast in more than 130 countries, yielding similarly huge boosts on the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts. On the former, “Not Like Us” has blasted from No. 45 to No. 20 to No. 1 (on the Feb. 8, 15, and 22 charts), returning for a third non-consecutive week atop the list since its release last May. On Global Excl. U.S, the song reaches a new No. 3 high (after debuting at No. 9, climbing to No. 7 the following week, and reaching a prior No. 5 best after the July 4 release of its official music video).
This week doesn’t just set a new high for the track itself, but for all rap songs on the global stage. “Not Like Us” jumped 188% to 65.7 million streams outside the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 13, according to Luminate. That’s the highest non-U.S. streaming total for a rap title since the global charts launched in September 2020. It surpasses Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red,” which drew 64.9 million in the week ending Sept. 28, 2023.
Including the U.S., “Not Like Us” is up 176% to 113.2 million streams globally. It falls short of Eminem’s “Houdini” for the most among rap hits since the Global 200 began: 121.4 million in the week ending June 6, 2024. Still, the latest boost for “Not Like Us” nine months after its arrival re-asserts its longevity. Since the Global 200, there have been only six instances of rap songs exceeding 100 million weekly worldwide streams and four of them belong to “Not Like Us.”
The international success of “Not Like Us” is rare. Hip-hop’s struggle to export globally has been documented, and it’d be reasonable to expect Lamar’s lyrically dense tracks to hit a wall, particularly in countries where English is not the primary language. But the song’s reach is wide, appearing on more than 30 of Billboard’s territory-specific Hits of the World charts this week, including tallies in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America and Oceania. It’s No. 1 on Australia Songs and Ireland Songs and ranks among the top 10 in 18 other territories.
While “Not Like Us” leads the charge, three other Lamar tracks – “Luther” and “All the Stars,” both with SZA, and “TV Off,” featuring Lefty Gunplay – score top 20 ranks on Global Excl. U.S. Altogether, he logs nine songs on this week’s chart and 13 on the Global 200.
Across Lamar’s charting entries, streaming gains are varied between the U.S. and beyond. “All the Stars,” “Humble.,” “Luther” and “Peekaboo” have bigger domestic lifts, while “Money Trees,” “Not Like Us,” “TV Off” and “Squabble Up” see sharper increases internationally.
As evidenced throughout her career, Serena Williams likes to go big — and she doesn’t do anything for small reasons. That includes her recent appearance during Kendrick Lamar‘s 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show, about which the superstar athlete is now shutting down rumors regarding the so-called “petty” reasons she decided to take part in the performance.
Replying to a post on X about the cultural significance of the cameo she made as Lamar performed Billboard Hot 100-topper “Not Like Us” at the big game — shared by her husband, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian — Williams wrote Monday (Feb. 17), “… def not dancing to be petty lol.”
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“I think I proved 23 times over (not counting 4 gold medals) that I simply don’t have time for petty,” she continued.
The tennis champion’s post comes a full week after Ohanian — with whom Williams shares two daughters — posted his initial tweet, in which he reminded followers how much backlash his wife received when she famously crip walked at Wimbledon in 2012. Thirteen years later, Williams reclaimed the narrative by crip walking again, this time for more than 130 million viewers on the Super Bowl stage with Dot in New Orleans.
“Some of y’all have no idea how criticized Serena was for this same dance,” the entrepreneur wrote, sharing a screenshot of an old article calling Williams’ dance at Wimbledon “the height of disrespect.” “This is bigger than the music.”
“That there my baby daddy and husband,” the Olympian added in her reply. “Always got my back. I Love you.”
Williams’ seconds-long appearance during halftime Feb. 9 was certainly one of the most talked-about moments from Lamar’s 13-minute showcase — not only because of its callback to Wimbledon, but also due to the athlete’s rumored romantic past with Drake, whom the Compton rapper taunted multiple times during the show. In addition to cheekily referencing Drizzy’s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over “Not Like Us,” Lamar also led the crowd at Caesars Superdome in an ear-splitting “Tryna strike a chord, and it’s probably A-minor” chant seconds after looking straight into the camera and jeering, “Say, Drake, I hear you like them young …”
Because of Lamar’s feud with Drake, many fans assumed that the “Squabble Up” artist was adding insult to injury by inviting his foe’s rumored ex to join him on stage. But according to Williams, she only had pure intentions before getting on the field.
She added in her post, “All love and respect always nothing negative here.”
Kid Rock showed some respect for Kendrick Lamar‘s Super Bowl Halftime Show performance in an appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher. He also said he doesn’t think it would’ve happened without the NFL’s DEI initiatives.
“To put it nicely, it wasn’t my cup of tea, but I got to respect it,” he told Maher on the Valentine’s Day episode of Real Time. “And here’s why. You know, I grew up loving, emulating hip-hop, all things hip-hop — break dancing, deejaying, graffiti, rapping, and so I understand the culture a little bit more than most. And when I say most, of course, I mean white people.”
Kid Rock continued, “So when you’re watching it, after, there’s a lot of things going through your head. You know, everyone’s like, ‘That sucked,’ this, that and the other. I’m like, man, this kid pretty much came out figuratively with both middle fingers in the air, doing what he does for the people who love what he does, unapologetically. And I don’t think he gives a frog’s fat a– what anyone thinks about it.”
“So I go, huh, it’s pretty much how I built my whole career. I gotta respect it,” said Kid Rock, who recently performed in support of Donald Trump’s inauguration and said the president is “one of the greatest men to ever walk the Earth” and “screams ‘American Badass,’ just by the way he walks,” and professed his love for Trump again during his conversation with Maher on Friday.
Kid Rock then attempted to theorize how Lamar — a frequent Billboard chart topper and 22-time Grammy Award winner, and the top Grammy winner this year (with five wins, including record and song of the year) — got invited to headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show, which made history as the most-watched Halftime Show of all time, with 133.5 million viewers.
“How did he get there?” he wondered out loud. “I’ve heard nobody answer this question. How did he get that gig? Jay-Z. What happened there? I think Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar should both send Colin Kaepernick a Bundt cake and a six-pack of beer and a ‘thank you’ note with a bunch of money in it because without him kneeling and getting everyone’s panties in a bunch over the anthem, self-included, I don’t think that happens.”
Maher started to move the conversation along at that point, but Kid Rock kept going.
“And by the way, one more point,” Kid Rock said. “This was the epitome of DEI blowing up. Because the NFL was all this DEI, end racism, all this stuff. They got Jay-Z in there booking this. Kendrick Lamar goes out there and basically turns DEI into an IED. It’s all Black people, or all people of color, speaking to his crowd, in the hood, Black people. It was like the most exclusive thing ever and I’m like, ‘F— yeah, that’s awesome.’ I’m laughing my a– off.”
Later in Friday’s interview, when asked his about thoughts on democrats, Kid Rock reminded Maher he’d also once performed (but didn’t vote) for Barack Obama, and told him, “Half my band’s liberal, or gay, or Black, or this. I have one of the most diverse bands out there. Not because of this DEI s—. Just because they’re the best at what they do. We all love each other and get along.”
As the conversation shifted over to Kid Rock’s upcoming tour dates, he spoke of the need for an upheaval in the concert ticket business. The TICKET Act, a ticketing reform law meant to clean up the concert industry, was recently revived in the U.S. Senate after nearly becoming law in 2024. The TICKET Act would introduce mandatory all-in pricing, require refunds for canceled events and ban speculative ticket sales.
“In the last however long, it’s complete horse s—,” Kid Rock said of what it’s currently like to purchase a concert ticket, adding that “the customers get screwed.”
“What we have to really look at right now is what’s going on in some of these European markets, like France. They basically put a price cap on reselling a ticket of like 10 or 15%,” he suggested.
In another clip from the show, which aired during the “Overtime” segment and can be watched below, Kid Rock confirmed that he’s got a gospel album in the works.
“Early beginnings now,” he told Maher. “Doing a gospel album with my old friend Rick Rubin.”
Rubin previously produced Kid Rock’s 2010 album Born Free, which reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.