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Kendrick Lamar called on his fellow Compton, Calif., native Serena Williams for an instantly viral moment during his Super Bowl LIX Halftime performance on Sunday night (Feb. 9), in which the tennis champion was seen crip walking and staring at the camera during the scathing “Not Like Us.”
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One of the many fans of the onstage moment was Serena’s sister, Venus Williams, who took to her Instagram Stories on Monday morning (Feb. 10) for some sibling love. “Lil sis killing it,” she wrote over a repost of Serena’s Instagram Reel of the moment. See Venus’ Story here.
While other guests during Lamar’s performance included Samuel L. Jackson and SZA, Serena’s appearance stood out as a moment fans online speculated was a dig at Drake — the famous subject of the “Not Like Us” diss track. Drake and Serena reportedly dated in 2015, and the rapper revealed that he wrote his 2016 hit “Too Good” about the athlete.
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In 2022, Drake fired shots at Williams’ husband and co-founder of Reddit, Alexis Ohanian, rapping on “Middle of the Ocean”: “Sidebar, Serena, your husband a groupie/ He claim we don’t got a problem but no, boo, it’s like you comin’ for sushi/ We might pop up on ’em at will like Suzuki.”
Ohanian was in attendance at the Super Bowl in New Orleans, watching his wife take the stage live. “Pretty fantastic halftime show,” he wrote of the event. He also reposted a tweet calling Serena’s cameo the “highlight of the Super Bowl.”
Williams fittingly referred to the Lamar-Drake feud at last year’s ESPY Awards during her hosting monologue. “If I’ve learned anything this year, it’s that none of us, not a single one of us, not even me, should ever pick a fight with Kendrick Lamar,” she noted.
Watch Lamar’s full Halftime Show performance here.
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Source: PA Wire – PA Images / Getty / Ledisi
As expected, the MAGA contingent was once again BIG MAD at the Black National Anthem being sung at the Super Bowl.
Will this be an annual thing, or will the Orange Menace, aka Donald Trump, sing one of his useless executive orders ordering all American sports leagues only to perform the National Anthem and sporting events?
Even though the NFL has gotten rid of the “end racism” signage in the back of endzones for the Super Bowl, they still kept the singing of “Lift Every Voice” ahead of kickoff, a move the league adopted in 2020 in the wake of protests following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police.
The song was adopted by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and is commonly called the Black National Anthem.
Louisiana-born singer Ledisi performed the song in New Orleans ahead of Super Bowl LIX in front of Felon 47 Donald Trump, and the performance was magnificent.
Unfortunately, like last year, the MAGA cult was BIG MAD at the idea of the hymn being used as a separate anthem in a league that features predominantly Black players.
Right-wing commentators such as Charlie Kirk sounded off on the performance. “Only our actual national anthem should be performed at the Super Bowl,” Kirk wrote.
“Black National Anthem’ is a racist relic left over from the BLM era. Get rid of it,” the lame account End Wokeness said on X, formerly Twitter.
Another crappy account R T wrote, “Just muted the Black National Anthem. There’s one national anthem for this country and that ain’t it. We’re all Americans, not divided by Race, Creed, Sex or Religious Preference.”
Black Xitter Loved Ledisi’s Performance
Thankfully, Black Xitter loved seeing MAGA all butt-hurt about the performance of the hymn.
“Yes, the Black National Anthem does deserve to be a part of the Anthems we sing at the Super Bowl. Why? Because Black History is American History,” one post on X read.
Another post read, “Baby, #Ledisi sang the Black National Anthem from her soul and pit of her stomach! The ancestors are proud!”
They can honestly stay mad. The NFL better not let these people influence them into taking out the Black National Anthem.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
2. Yes, yes it was
4. Oh they were big mad
5. It was Black as hell, and we loved it.
7. Never fails
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Source: YouTube / Youtube
Ye aka Kanye West purchased another ad to air during the Super Bowl, but its limited outreach plus the bizarre display by the rapper made some uncomfortable.
On Sunday (February 9), Super Bowl LIX took place at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana complete with all of the advertisements that rivaled the game for attention. But one ad bought by Ye aka Kanye West surprised people by its bizarre presentation. The commercial features West staring up at the camera, from a dentist’s chair while wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt and wraparound sunglasses. “So what’s up, guys, I spent, like all the money put a commercial on these new teeth. So once again, I had to shoot it on the iPhone,” he said, flashing a set of grills. He then finished with a stammer in his voice, “Um… um… go to yeezy.com.”
The ad wasn’t aired nationwide, only in the Los Angeles area. It was a repeat of what West did last year when he bought a local advertisement for yeezy.com, but it reportedly wasn’t aired in New York or Los Angeles. The setting of the ad is a potential reference to claims by his former associate and ex-chief-of-staff Milo Yiannopoulos, who alleged that a celebrity dentist named Dr. Thomas P. Connelly had gotten West addicted to nitrous oxide to “extract millions of dollars from him.” Yiannopoulos would supply text messages between himself, Connelly, and West where the rapper would request more nitrous oxide from Connelly.
Those who visited the “No More Parties In L.A.” rapper’s site after seeing the ad reported that there was only one item for sale – a t-shirt with a swastika emblazoned on it. The disturbing content comes after West’s hours-long rant on X, formerly Twitter, that was filled with him declaring “I’m a Nazi,” along with other antisemitic comments such as calling Hitler “so fresh”. He also stated that he was “never apologizing for my Jewish comments.” The rant would see him also attack plus-size women and make other wild claims such as allegedly sleeping with Ivanka Trump. His account would be deactivated on Monday morning (February 10), though it was unclear if he took that action or if X did in response to West violating its policies which state that users cannot “directly attack other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability or serious disease.”
02/10/2025
Check out the music moments you might have missed if you weren’t in the building on Sunday.
02/10/2025
Tens of millions of people tune in every year to watch the Super Bowl, and 2025 was no exception. But it’s not just the game itself or the musical halftime show that attract an unfathomable number of eyeballs each year — it’s also the commercials, which this year featured celebrity endorsements and clever campaigns from […]
Taylor Swift wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms by every person at the 2025 Super Bowl, with the pop star receiving boos from some members of the crowd when her image appeared on the Caesars Superdome jumbotron Sunday (Feb. 9). But Serena Williams and Flavor Flav both have her back.
In videos taken at the big game in New Orleans — where the Kansas City Chiefs went on to lose to the Philadelphia Eagles 22-40 — Swift sits next to “Karma” collaborator Ice Spice and surveys the crowd when her face is projected on the big screens. A choir of “boos” then erupts from parts of the stadium, likely from fans of that night’s winners, who knew she was there to cheer on boyfriend Travis Kelce, tight end for the opposing team.
In the moment, the 14-time Grammy winner simply gave a side-eye and a resigned laugh, but Williams — who later joined Kendrick Lamar on the field during halftime for a brief-but-iconic cameo — was quick to come to Swift’s defense. “I love you @taylorswift13 dont listen to those booo!!” the tennis champ posted on X.
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The Public Enemy rapper — the self-proclaimed “King Swiftie” — also quickly showed support for the “Fortnight” singer online. “Eagles fans will boo anyone,,, remember when they booed and attacked Santa Claus,??? SANTA CLAUS,!!!” he wrote on Bluesky, sharing a Wikipedia link describing a famous 1968 incident wherein Philadelphia football fans pelted the star of that year’s Christmas parade with snowballs.
“The only person who might bring more spirit and joy to people than Taylor Swift,,, and of course your boy Flavor Flav,” he added. “Just Shake It Off.”
Williams and Flav were just two of countless Swifties who spoke up for Swift on social media after the booing at the Superdome. And, as many fans pointed out, it’s not as if the “Anti-Hero” musician is lacking in applause from the people of New Orleans, who showed up in droves to see her for three nights straight when she brought her Eras Tour to that exact stadium in October.
One person, however, who definitely didn’t have kind things to say online after the incident was President Donald Trump, who also attended the game Sunday. “The only one that had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift,” he wrote on Truth Social. “She got BOOED out of the Stadium. MAGA is very unforgiving!”
https://bsky.app/profile/flavorflav.bsky.social/post/3lhshqpqmp22j
Kendrick Lamar‘s 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show was full of memorable moments — and Billboard wants to know which one is your favorite. There certainly are a lot to choose from, with the Compton rapper demonstrating his prowess with 13 straight minutes of back-to-back hits and all-star cameos from collaborators and friends. After the show […]
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Lil Wayne became a trending topic on social media in the wake of Kendrick Lamar’s grand Super Bowl LIX halftime show performance in New Orleans. Lil Wayne saw his name trending on X just mere moments after Kendrick Lamar concluded his set, with fans wondering how he would’ve fared in his hometown.
Much has been made of Lil Wayne’s public expressions of disappointment for not being selected as the chief act for the Super Bowl LIX halftime set considering its location. Naturally, the expectation that a hometown act should grace the world’s biggest stage makes sense and, to the planning committee’s credit, the inclusion of Grammy Award-winning native son Jon Batiste and his rendition of the National Anthem satisfied some of those concerns.
Still, Weezy F. Baby believed that the halftime show should have been his moment, expressing hurt for being passed over. That said, Kendrick Lamar’s Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show set was full of dazzling imagery, choreography, and surprises such as Samuel L. Jackson playing a very tongue-in-cheek version of Uncle Sam with some veiled messages as the state of the nation. Also, Serena Williams showed up and hit her steps during Lamar’s “Not Like Us” performance, and SZA provided some support by way of “Luther” and the crowd-pleasing “All The Stars.”
In an alarming bit of backlash, some fans are criticizing Lamar’s performance, with one X user calling the performance “Black Panther Raps” and other digs. Some other fans thought that Wayne’s big hits would’ve played well at the Caesars Superdome while plenty of others didn’t believe he would’ve had what it took to deliver.
On X, folks are taking shots at Lil Wayne and dressing down the Young Money honcho by speculating that he may not have measured up to what Lamar delivered. Weezy’s homeboy Skip Bayless, however, defended his friend on X. With the show in the rearview, there is no way to know how well Wayne would’ve done but fans on X have their strong opinions out front and center.
Check out the reactions below.
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Photo: Getty
02/10/2025
Philadelphia defeated the Kansas City Chiefs to take home the Super Bowl LIX victory.
02/10/2025
02/10/2025
From the superstar’s most fleet-footed moment to an unexpected stage crasher, these in-stadium moments were missed by the millions of TV viewers.
02/10/2025